Remnants of China’s largest rocket ‘Long March 5B’ launched in April 2021 plunged back through the atmosphere on May 9 landing in the Indian Ocean, west of the Maldives bringing an end to the speculations surrounding its place of fall on the earth.
- At 18 tonnes, it was one of the largest space debris that re-entered the Earth.
- US and European authorities had been monitoring the rocket, which was travelling at a speed of 13.7km/second (4.8 miles/second).
- NASA has criticized China alleging that it is failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris.
- NASA administrator Bill Nelson said that spacefaring nations must minimize the risk to people and property on Earth of re-entries of space objects and maximize transparency regarding those operations.
- The Long March 5B – comprising one core stage and four boosters – lifted off on April 29, 2021 from China’s Hainan Island with the unmanned Tianhe module, which contains what will become living quarters on a permanent Chinese space station.
