SHANGHAI—Remnants of China’s largest rocket launched last week are expected to plunge back through the atmosphere late Saturday or early Sunday, a U.S. federally funded space-focused research and development center said. The Long March launched last week was the second deployment of the 5B variant since its maiden flight in May last year. Debris from Chinese rocket launches is not uncommon within China. “The Long March 5B re-entry is unusual because during launch, the first stage of the rocket reached orbital velocity instead of falling downrange as is common practice,” the Aerospace Corporation said in a blog post. It is one of the largest space debris to re-enter Earth, at 18 tonnes.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer May 08, 2021 08:06 UTC