The Chinese rocket Long March 5B fell back to Earth on Saturday, while social media users in Malaysia shared a video of what appeared to be rocket debris falling from the sky. According to NASA, the rocket had re-entered over the Indian Ocean, but said that China had failed to share “specific trajectory information” and referred questions about “reentry’s technical aspects such as potential debris dispersal impact location” to Beijing.
A Chinese rocket fell back to Earth on Saturday over the Indian Ocean but NASA said Beijing had not shared the “specific trajectory information” needed to know where possible debris might fall.
US Space Command said the Long March 5B rocket re-entered over the Indian Ocean at approximately 12:45pm EDT Saturday (16:45 GMT), but referred questions about “reentry’s technical aspects such as potential debris dispersal impact location” to China.
“All spacefaring nations should follow established best practices and do their part to share this type of information in advance to allow reliable predictions of potential debris impact risk,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said.
