Another Chinese rocket is going to crash down to earth. It’s not entirely clear when or where the rocket will land, but the good news is it probably won’t hurt anyone.
Since the Chinese military controls the country’s space program, China is excluded from participating in the International Space Station. So, it’s building its own.
Earlier this week, the Chinese sent a new lab module to their space station. Now, the 23-ton Long March 5B rocket that took the module into space is about to fall victim to gravity.
Most of the rocket will burn up during reentry into the earth’s atmosphere, but not all of it.
According to the Aerospace Corporation, a nonprofit that conducts space research and development, there’s about a 6 in 10 trillion chance any one person could be injured by a piece of the falling space trash.
This is the third time a Chinese rocket will make an “uncontrolled decent” to earth in the last two years.
In 2020, a piece of a Chinese rocket landed in Africa.
China also drew heavy criticism in 2007, when the country used a missile to destroy one of its failing weather satellites, creating a massive debris field.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said last year, “It’s clear that China is failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris.”
China’s Foreign Ministry said it’s understood this type of rocket is designed to be mostly burnt up during reentry, and that “the possibility of causing damage to aviation activities or on the ground is extremely low.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
