Why you (probably) shouldn t panic about the falling Chinese rocket
A large section of a Long March 5B rocket is predicted to reenter Earth’s atmosphere on May 8 or May 9. Here s what you need to know.
ByNadia Drake
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This weekend, a spent, 100-foot-long Chinese rocket is set to plunge through Earth’s atmosphere. A substantial portion of the 22-ton launch vehicle the core stage of a Long March 5B rocket will be obliterated as it descends, although large pieces of debris could survive the fall.
Based on the rocket’s trajectory, estimates suggest that reentry will occur sometime between 10 a.m. ET on Saturday May 8 and 11 a.m. on Sunday May 9.
The environmentally friendly fuel used by the Long March 5B would not pollute the ocean
May 07, 2021
The Long March 5 Y-4 rocket, carrying an unmanned Mars probe of the Tianwen-1 mission, takes off from Wenchang Space Launch Centre in Wenchang, Hainan Province, China July 23, 2020. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE
Debris from a Chinese rocket that sent part of a planned space station into orbit last week is likely to fall in international waters, China’s Global Times reported on Wednesday, amid concerns it could cause damage on re-entry to Earth.
The Long March 5B blasted off from Hainan island on April 29 carrying the “Tianhe” module that contains what will become living quarters for three crew on a permanent Chinese space station.
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A huge piece of space junk is about to make an uncontrolled re-entry back into Earth s atmosphere, threatening to drop debris on a number of cities around the world this weekend. It s left over from China s first module for its new Tianhe space station and no one knows exactly where it will land.
The 23-ton Chinese rocket Long March-5B recently launched the first module for the country s new space station into orbit. After the core separated from the rest of the rocket, it should have followed a predetermined flight path into the ocean.
But now, scientists have little idea where it will land as it orbits the planet unpredictably every 90 minutes, at about 17,000 miles per hour. As it soars through the atmosphere, appearing to tumble, it is slowly losing altitude.
Chinese rocket expected to fall to Earth this weekend. Should we be worried?
Updated May 07, 3:51 PM;
Posted May 07, 12:27 PM
In this file photo released by China s Xinhua News Agency, a Long March 5B rocket carrying a module for a Chinese space station lifts off in Wenchang in southern China s Hainan Province on April 29, 2021. The central rocket segment that launched the 22.5-ton core of China s newest space station into orbit is due to plunge back to Earth as early as Saturday, May 8, in an unknown location.AP
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A 100-foot-tall Chinese rocket that some have described as “out of control” is expected to fall down to Earth this weekend. The problem: No one knows exactly when it will happen or where the rocket or big pieces of it will land.
Breaking its silence on its tumbling space rocket, whose debris is expected to fall on the Earth this weekend, China said most of it would be burnt during the re-entry and it is highly unlikely to cause any damage on the ground. Replying to questions about the Long March 5B rocket, which last week launched the core module of the country s space station and started hurtling down to Earth, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing here on Friday that China will provide timely updates on it. The Pentagon said on Tuesday that it was tracking a large Chinese rocket that is out of control and set to re-enter Earth s atmosphere this weekend.