A Chinese missile disintegrates out of control over the Pacific Ocean

The thruster of the Chinese Long March 5B rocket re-entered Earth’s atmosphere at 6:01 a.m. ET on Friday, November 4, and debris landed west of the Mexican coast. There are no reports of casualties, but the 22-ton core stage threatened populated areas during its final orbit.

US Space Command confirmed The propellant re-entered the atmosphere via Twitter, saying it fell over the South Central Pacific. It is interesting that space command tracking A second re-entry into the atmosphere linked to a Long March 5B missile, indicating that the missile had broken into two large pieces.

there was Good odds That the 33-meter propeller will fall into the ocean, because two-thirds of the Earth is covered in water. Yet China chooses to gamble with people’s lives and property, designing a missile that will fly into a rapidly imploding orbit, rather than its safe and controlled re-entry. The rocket, which carries the third and final unit of China’s Tiangong space station, It was launched From the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan on Oct. 31. This is the fourth time that the Long March 5B missile has entered an uncontrolled state.

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Los controladores de la misión no tenían forma de controlar el propulsor una vez que entró en órbita, lo que obligó a los expertos a predecir dónde y cuándo podría caer, lo que es notoriamente hard to do. On Thursday night, most forecasts had re-entered the booster around 12:00 PM ET on Friday or so. The rocket, which landed at 6:01 a.m. ET this morning, landed much sooner than expected, less than half a day before it finally plunged into the atmosphere at speeds of up to 17,500 miles per hour.

Debris falling east of the Mexican coast near coordinates 2.2 c. The footprints or debris trails are not small, often as wide as 70 kilometers in width and more than 2,000 kilometers in length, Ted Muelhaupt, a consultant in the company’s chief flight engineer’s office, told reporters on Wednesday. Muelhaupt said that 10% to 40% of the propellant is likely to survive again.

During its final orbit, the main stage flew over Spain, Saudi Arabia, and Western Australia. She explained that Spain temporarily closed some of its airspace while the booster flew over it Reuters. No one was hurt (as far as we know), but the wayward booster did lead to a nuisance.

This is the fourth incident involving a key stage of Long March 5B is out of control. Two years ago, debris from the first missile launch they signed In Côte d’Ivoire and according to Reportscause damage Properties. Second flight wreck they signed in the Indian Ocean, but the return of the third flight in July 2022 was Visible From Malaysia, with dangerous bits of space debris falling over parts of Indonesia and the Philippines.