Published on: Sunday, May 09, 2021
By: Bernama
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The Long March-5B rocket had launched the first module of China s new space station into Earth orbit on April 29. - AFP photo
KUALA LUMPUR: Debris from China s Long March rocket, announced to be out of control on May 7, fell to Earth in the Indian Ocean near Maldives early Sunday.
Parts of the debris returned to the Earth at 10.24 Chinese local time (0224GMT), according to a report by Anadolu Agency quoting statement by China Manned Space Engineering Office.
Most of the rocket burned up by the time it landed in the ocean, officials said.
Chinese rocket: where it fell, in what country and what happened to remains of the Long March 5B
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that it was “common practice” for the upper stages of rockets to burn up while reentering the atmosphere.
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AFP
Remnants of China s largest rocket landed in the Indian Ocean on Sunday, with most of its components destroyed upon re-entry into the atmosphere, ending days of speculation over where the debris would hit.
The rocket was launched on April 29 at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China’s Hainan province. It measured 98 feet long and 16.5 feet wide, and it weighed 21 metric tons.
Remnants of China’s largest rocket, launched last week, plunged back through the atmosphere on Sunday, landing at a location of longitude 72.47 degrees east and latitude 2.65 degrees north, placing it close to the Maldives in the Indian Ocean.
The 18-tonne remnants of the Long March 5B rocket re-entered the earth’s atmosphere at 10.24 am Beijing time (02:24 GMT), Chinese state media reported, citing the China Manned Space Engineering Office.
Most of the debris was burnt up in the atmosphere, it said.
China’s foreign ministry said on Friday that the re-entry and was highly unlikely to cause any harm.
China now reporting https://t.co/dHSJVoItCY that the rocket reentered at 0224 UTC at 72.47E 2.65N which is right over the Maldives. If correct will be interesting to see if we get reports from there pic.twitter.com/NQovz33pqg
The fragments are from a Chinese space module launched at the end of last month. There had been speculation about where the debris would land, but experts predicted the chances of death or injuries were tiny.