China being criticised by NASA after the debris of the rocket land in the Indian ocean.
After re-entering the atmosphere, debris from China's long march 5B rocket lands in the indian Ocean. The point of effect, according to state media, was in the ocean west of the maldives archipelago. The united states Space Command acknowledges re-entry over the Arabian Peninsula, but claims the precise impact site is unclear. China's lack of accountability in the run-up to rocket re-entry has been criticised by NASA's administrator.
According to china, debris from the rocket landed at a site with coordinates of 72.47 degrees east and 2.65 degrees north on sunday morning. Experts said the odds of hitting an inhabited place on the ground were slim, and the chances of casualties were even lighter. According to McDowell, Chinese rocket designers seem to be lazy for failing to fix the problem. Concerns that the rocket was "out of sight" were ignored as "Western hype" by the Global Times, a Chinese tabloid. Most countries have designed their spacecraft to prevent such unregulated re-entry. The rocket will launch an autonomous Tianhe module into orbit, which will house three crew members on a permanent Chinese space station.
At a daily media briefing on May 7, Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for China's foreign ministry, said, "It is normal to practise around the world for upper stages of rockets to burn up before reentering the atmosphere."
"To my understanding, the upper stage of this rocket has been deactivated," Wang said at the time, "which means much of its components will burn up upon re-entry, thereby reducing the risk of damage to aviation or land facilities and activities."
According to china, debris from the rocket landed at a site with coordinates of 72.47 degrees east and 2.65 degrees north on sunday morning. Experts said the odds of hitting an inhabited place on the ground were slim, and the chances of casualties were even lighter. According to McDowell, Chinese rocket designers seem to be lazy for failing to fix the problem. Concerns that the rocket was "out of sight" were ignored as "Western hype" by the Global Times, a Chinese tabloid. Most countries have designed their spacecraft to prevent such unregulated re-entry. The rocket will launch an autonomous Tianhe module into orbit, which will house three crew members on a permanent Chinese space station.
At a daily media briefing on May 7, Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for China's foreign ministry, said, "It is normal to practise around the world for upper stages of rockets to burn up before reentering the atmosphere."
"To my understanding, the upper stage of this rocket has been deactivated," Wang said at the time, "which means much of its components will burn up upon re-entry, thereby reducing the risk of damage to aviation or land facilities and activities."