WENCHANG, CHINA — Remnants of the Chinese Long March 5B rocket that was launched last month have crashed back down to Earth and into the Indian Ocean at a speed of around 4.8 miles per second, according to Reuters.
On Sunday, Chinese state media, citing the China Manned Space Engineering Office, said the rocket debris had mostly burned up upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.
However footage of the rocket’s uncontrolled descent was recorded from Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia, according to The Guardian.
Corroborating those images, the monitoring service Space-Track, which uses U.S. military data, said the rocket was recorded above Saudi Arabia before falling into the Indian Ocean, to the west of the Maldives.
After days of speculation that the debris could hit land and endanger lives, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement on NASA’s website: “It is clear that China is failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris.”
SOURCES: BBC, NASA, Space.com, The Guardian, Reuters
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