Segments Of Chinese Rocket Long March 5B Disintegrate And Land In Indian Ocean Near Maldives

A large segment of the Chinese rocket Long March-5B Yao-2 re-entered Earth's atmosphere and thereafter disintegrated over the Indian Ocean as per the information made public by the Chinese space agency, reports Moneycontrol.

Issuing a statement, the China Manned Space Engineering Office provided the coordinates of the site near the Maldives where the free-falling remnants of the last-stage wreckage of the rocket fell. It also added in the statement that most of the segment disintegrated and was destroyed during re-entry.

It should be noted that the uncontrolled re-entry of such a large object had sparked concerns about possible damage and casualties, despite there being a low statistical chance, given that 70 per cent of the planet is covered by water.

US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin had gone on to assert that though the US military had no plans to shoot it down, China had been negligent in letting it fall out of orbit.

The rocket had been fired by China to launch the first module of its new space station into the Earth's orbit on bygone 29 April.

It should be noted that just last year, debris from another Long March rocket had fallen on villages in the Ivory Coast, causing structural damage but no injuries or deaths.

Harvard-based astronomer Jonathan McDowell had said earlier that China should redesign the Long March-5B to avoid such scenarios.

"It appears China won its gamble (unless we get news of debris in the Maldives). But it was still reckless,” he tweeted.