Professor and 'Future of Humanity' author explains significance of NASA rover touching down on the Red Planet The 100-foot-long object is orbiting the blue marble every 90 minutes, passing north of New York and Beijing and as far south as Chile and New Zealand. While the main stage released the Tianhe, or "Heavenly Harmony," module – the makings of the country's first permanent space station – shortly after the eight-minute mark of the mission, Gizmodo reported that the core stage stayed in space and did not perform a controlled deorbit. Although rocket manufacturers typically take precautionary measures to avoid falling rocket debris, Inverse says the Long March 5B rocket stage is built without a steering booster, stabilization system and restartable engine.