China says most rocket debris burned up during reentry

9/5/2021 19:09

        China's space agency said a core segment of its biggest rocket reentered Earth's atmosphere above the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and that most of it burned up early Sunday.
        
        Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, who tracked the tumbling rocket part, said on Twitter, "An ocean reentry was always statistically the most likely. It appears China won its gamble… But it was still reckless.”
        
        People in Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia reported sightings of the Chinese rocket debris on social media, with scores of users posting footage of the debris piercing the early dawn skies over the Middle East.
        
        Usually, discarded rocket stages reenter the atmosphere soon after liftoff, normally over water, and don't go into orbit.