U.S. officials said the location can only be pinpointed within hours of reentry, but other experts said the impact will be minimal.
A portion of a Chinese rocket is expected to plunge back to Earth as early as this weekend. The Long March 5B rocket carried the main module of Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony, China’s first permanent space station into orbit on April 29. Discarded rocket stages are usually immediately guided into a controlled demolition by friction in Earth’s atmosphere. But China’s space agency has yet to comment publicly on the rocket’s trajectory of reentry or say whether the « core stage » of the rocket is being controlled or will make an out-of-control descent.
