U.S. Space Command confirmed the Long March 5B rocket re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.
Videos on social media showed what appeared to be rocket debris lighting up the night sky as a Chinese rocket fell back to Earth on Saturday.
The incident has led to NASA criticizing Beijing for not sharing information about the rocket’s descent.
U.S. Space Command confirmed the Long March 5B rocket « re-entered over the Indian Ocean » at approximately 10:45 p.m. MDT (12:45 p.m. EDT) on Saturday, but referred questions about « re-entry’s technical aspects » such as potential debris dispersal and impact location to China.
Most of the debris burned up on re-entry over the Sulu Sea, a body of water between the island of Borneo and the Philippines, the Chinese Manned Space Agency said in a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo.
But NASA Administrator Bill Nelson criticized China for not sharing « specific trajectory information » about the rocket’s descent.
