Expert says ‘pretty small’ risk to humans
A Chinese Rocket orbiting uncontrolled is tumbling back to Earth this weekend. No one really knows when or where it will actually land. It expected to hit Earth between Saturday and Monday but the chance of it hurting someone is relatively slim.
On April 29, a long March 5B launched a big piece of China’s next space station, Tiangong. Usually the largest booster stages of rockets immediately drop back to Earth after they are jettisoned, but the 23-ton core stage of Long March 5B accompanied the space station segment all the way to orbit.
Because of friction caused by the Chinese rocket rubbing against air at the the top of atmosphere, it has been losing altitude since and will soon make what is called “uncontrolled re-entry” back to Earth.
The chance of any debris from the long March 5B rocket will strike anything or hurt anyone are slight but not zero.
Long March 5B is the China’s biggest rocket and one of the largest currently in use by any nation.
The Chinese rocket is predicted to reenter the Blue Planet atmosphere around May 8 and though the “exact entry point” won’t be identified until within hours of reentry.
(With inputs The NY Times and CNN)
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