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The second stage of China's Changzheng-5B heavy launch vehicle completed its uncontrolled descent from near-earth orbit, and its unburned fragments fell in the Maldives region.
The stage was used in the launch of the main module Tianhe into orbit of the Chinese multi-module orbital station.
In the history of space exploration, there have been a number of cases of uncontrolled de-orbiting of large man-made objects.
The most notable ones are the Salyut-7, Skylab and Tiangong-1 orbital stations, the UARS satellite or the Phobos-Grunt probe.
However, only 10%-40% of the total mass of the spacecraft reaches the Earth's surface, which most often falls into the ocean.
Nevertheless, there is a known case of a fragment of space debris falling on a person, which did not harm him, as well as cases of falling fragments of rockets near settlements.
In particular, in 2019, the first stage of the Chinese Changzheng-4B launch vehicle fell on the outskirts of a village in Shaanxi province
Also, last year, debris from a stage of the Changzheng-5B launch vehicle fell on villages in the Ivory Coast.
On April 29, 2021, a new launch of the Changzheng-5B carrier rocket took place from the Wenchang launchpad.
The vehicle placed the Tianhe main module of the future Chinese multi-module orbital station into space.
After that, the second stage of the rocket, which did not possess the means of active maneuver in de-orbit, began an uncontrolled descent.
There was a possibility that fragments of the stage, weighing 21 tons and a length of 31 meters, unburnt in the atmosphere, could fall within 41 degrees north and 41 degrees south latitude
That area includes a number of countries, so the position of the stage was constantly monitored by observers around the world.
In this regard, NASA administrator Bill Nelson issued a statement that China does not comply with standards for its space debris
Nelson added that space powers need to minimize the risks to people and property on Earth associated with re-entering the atmosphere of spacecraft.
As a result, the stage entered the dense layers of the Earth's atmosphere at about midnight and unburned debris fell in the Maldives region in the Indian Ocean
The exact point of impact was: 72.47 degrees east longitude and 2.65 degrees server latitude. Nobody was hurt.
Sources:
The really alarming thing that it is, no international organization spoke out firmly enough to complain to China. This time China played luck with the world.
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