Chinese rocket debris has crashed on Earth. From the Long March 5B rocket.

Earlier this week, we reported that the rocket that China launched to the second module of the Tiangong space station would crash out of control toward Earth.

The night before today it happened and the scrap that did not burn in the atmosphere fell uncontrollably near the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Fortunately, the scrap did not end up on land, which could have become troublesome for the residents there.

China has been criticized several times for letting rocket debris fall uncontrolled over the earth, but does not seem to have taken this criticism to heart. That space debris from spent rockets falls on the earth is sometimes inevitable, but today technology is available so that it is possible to control where on earth the scrap falls. That’s one of the reasons why many space nations drop their junk over the place in the Pacific sometimes called the “spacecraft graveyard”

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Science, Space,

china, tiangong, rocket scrap, space junk, space station, long march 5b

Even more Chinese rocket debris will fall to Earth

China is not very good at taking care of its spent rockets

The other day, China launched the second module of its new Tiangong space station. Soon the rocket that launched the module will crash out of control towards Earth. The US Space Command says the Long March 5B rocket that launched China’s new space station module will come down somewhere on Earth by the end of this week or early next week. The rocket weighs 23 tonnes but will break up into smaller pieces as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere. Should any of these parts hit inhabited areas, they can damage both buildings and, in the worst case, even people. China has been criticized several times for letting rocket debris fall uncontrolled over the earth, but does not seem to have taken this criticism to heart. That space debris from spent rockets falls on the earth is sometimes inevitable, but today technology is available so that it is possible to control where on earth the scrap falls. That’s one of the reasons why many space nations drop their junk over the place in the Pacific sometimes called the “spacecraft graveyard”

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China has launched a new module for the Tiangong space station

Now two of three modules for the space station are in place

Yesterday, China sent up the second of three modules that will make up their new Tiangong space station. The module sent up yesterday is called “Wentian” (“Quest for the Heavens”) and in it the Chinese taikonauts will carry out various research experiments in the future. Wentian left Earth aboard one of China’s Long March 5B rockets, and the launch reportedly went as planned, according to Chinese television channel CCTV. In October, the third module to the space station is planned to be connected to the two modules that are now in place. It is called Mengtian (“Dreaming of the Heavens”) and is also intended to function as a research module. China plans to have Tiangong fully operational before the end of the year. The space station will then have a size that corresponds to one-fifth of the International Space Station ISS. Below is a sketch of what the space station looked like before the latest module was connected to Tiangong.

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Taikonauts scout new module on their space station

New research module has now docked with the “Heavenly Palace”

Yesterday, China sent up a new module to its new space station Tiangong, something we wrote about earlier here. Earlier today, the new research module docked with the base module that was sent into Earth orbit last year. In the clip above, you can check out what it looked like when the three taikonauts on board the space station Tiangong opened the hatches between the two modules and inspected the latest module. China plans to complete the Tiangong space station with a third module which is scheduled to be launched in October. Sometime before the end of the year, it is planned that the space station will be operational.

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