Space Command Is Tracking Chinese Rocket-Launch Junk Careening Wildly Toward Earth Airman performs routine software development for future space operations Nov. 2, 2020 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. (U.S. Air Force/Tech. Sgt. Patrick Harrower) 5 May 2021 Stars and Stripes | By Wyatt Olson U.S. Space Command is actively tracking part of a large Chinese rocket freefalling wildly from space and expected to reenter Earth's atmosphere on Saturday. Where the debris will land will remain unknown until shortly before it crashes, the Pentagon said Tuesday. The out-of-control space junk was part of the core launch stage used by China to propel the Long March 5B rocket into space on April 29. "U.S. Space Command is aware of and tracking the location of the Chinese Long March 5B in space, but its exact entry point into the Earth's atmosphere cannot be pinpointed until within hours of its reentry, which is expected around May 8," Mike Howard, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement Tuesday. The 18th Space Control Squadron is posting daily updates about the rocket body's location on space-track.org, the public-facing website that provides information on all satellites and debris orbiting the planet. The site provides data on objects as small as a softball. The 18th Space Control Squadron at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., tracks more than 27,000 man-made objects in space, most of which are in low-earth orbit, Howard said in the statement. The objects "can be potential threats to spaceflight safety and the space domain," he said. The launch was just one in a series China is conducting in an effort to build its own space station. The launch body measures roughly 100 feet long and 16 feet wide, according to a report posted Sunday on spacenews.com. Most first-stage launchers fall back to the ground shortly after liftoff into predesignated crash sites, the report said. The falling debris thus represents "one of the largest instances of uncontrolled reentry of a spacecraft" onto the Earth's surface. China came under fire a year ago for a similar launch of a Long March 5B when debris from its core stage landed in Côte d'Ivoire in Africa. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine publicly criticized China's handling of the launch at the time, according to spacenews.com. "It flew over population centers and it reentered Earth's atmosphere," he said during a committee meeting, the site reported. "It could have been extremely dangerous. We're really fortunate in the sense that it doesn't appear to have hurt anybody." Related Video: 21-ton Chinese rocket part expected to fall to Earth The almost 100-foot core of China's Long March 5B rocket is likely to make an uncontrolled reentry at an unknown point in the coming days. The spacecraft launched Thursday into low Earth orbit from Hainan's Related Topics: Military Headlines Global Hot Spots China Space Force © Copyright 2021 Stars and Stripes. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Oh no ---not Wuhan lord only knows what other viruses they have in that lab to cause a pandemic --which we will probably see sooner or later
I wonder how far up a piece of debris that large would have to be to take it all the way till Saturday before touching down??? I hoax? A false flag?? A sales pitch for covid-safety umbrellas???
Well , its coming down on Saturday,, Bidumb has been going home on weekends and being locked in the basement ,, maybe china has that thing zeroed in on Bidumb's basement come Saturday .
China reassures everyone that there shouldn't be a problem. "Chinese officials said Friday that the core will mostly burn up on reentry and that it poses little threat to people and buildings on the ground. " This is a quote from " U.S. military has ‘no plan’ to stop falling Chinese rocket debris ". So now we can all be assured. Atch(Covid-19)oo!!
If you've had the Wuhan Covid #19 vaccine then this space junk will simply bounce off you. Your protected !
Here is the orbital path - Australia, North America from Newfoundland to LA and part of South America along with the Middle East and southern Europe. Interesting that no part of China is in danger.
Dammit, I have one of the original Pelican cases that was guaranteed to withstand everything except for shark attack, descending space debris, and children under three. I'm gonna get screwed...