For the second time this year, the remnants of an out-of-control Chinese rocket re-entered the planet’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. It was the fourth time since 2020 that a Chinese Long March 5B had made an uncontrolled re-entry.

The mission to carry the last piece of China's Tiangong space station into low orbit space was a success. But China does not cooperate in noticing landings. And cannot control where the remnants of the launcher may come down.  

This is China’s most powerful heavy-lift rocket design which was first launched in 2020. It is about the size of a 10-story building and weighs around 23 tons or 21 metric tons.  But unlike most rockets, it can’t reignite its engine on the descent. And there is no way to control where it lands. 

Most orbital rockets are designed where the first stages can ditch into the ocean or over unpopulated areas.  And the U.S. company SpaceX designed its Falcon 9 rocket for controlled vertical landings and future reuse.

Chinese rocket plunges into the ocean

US Space Command confirmed pieces of the massive rocket plunged into the Pacific Ocean on re-entry. Fortunately, no one was harmed, and no damage was done.

Every time the Chinese rocket is launched, astronomers anxiously track its trajectory back to the surface. In an out-of-control landing, there is always fear that the rocket may hit a populated area. This time there was concern that the Chinese rocket could come down on the coast of Spain. 

In response, Spain temporarily closed parts of its airspace to avoid the risk posed by the space debris. There were hundreds of flight delays in the country.

NASA responds

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson was critical of the Chinese mission. “It is critical that all spacefaring nations are responsible and transparent in their space activities, and follow established best practices, especially, for the uncontrolled re-entry of a large rocket body debris — debris that could very well result in major damage or loss of life,” he said.

He made a similar statement in July. That was the last time a Chinese Long March 5B returned to Earth after the Chinese had launched another part of the Tiangong space station into space. 

Space junk is nothing new. In August, in a remote part of Australia, a farmer found a piece of a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on his farm.

 Most of those incidents are different from a massive Chinese rocket heading out of control back to earth.

 “The thing I want to point out about this is that we, the world, don’t deliberately launch things this big intending them to fall wherever,” Ted Muelhaupt, an Aerospace Corporation consultant claimed. “We haven’t done that for 50 years.”