China Rocket Crash: How Did NASA, ESA’s Space Chiefs React to Chinese Long March 5B Rocket’s Uncontrolled Reentry to Earth?

China received an intense backlash from the head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and European Space Agency (ESA) after debris from a Long March 5B rocket crashed to Earth last year. Let's revisit the NASA and ESA chiefs' reactions to the incident.

NASA, ESA Chiefs React To Long March 5B's Reentry

The heads of NASA and ESA released statements denouncing the uncontrolled reentry of the Chinese Long March 5B rocket booster last year.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated in a statement sent via email obtained by Space.com on Nov. 4, 2022, that the People's Republic of China took unnecessarily high risks with the uncontrolled rocket stage reentry of their Long March 5B rocket stage. They did not exchange the precise trajectory data to forecast landing zones and lower danger.

Since May 2020, the PRC has made four uncontrolled reentries, each of which has been the largest in the previous 30 years. All space-faring nations must be accountable, transparent, and follow accepted best practices in their space activities, especially in the uncontrolled reentry of massive rocket body debris, which may cause significant harm or even human casualties.

On the same day, ESA administrator Josef Aschbacher posted a message on Twitter. According to him, the uncontrolled #LongMarch5B reentry highlighted the increasing risk that unsustainable spaceflight methods pose to essential infrastructure in space and on the ground. The average annual mass of the roughly 100 huge pieces of debris that have returned to Earth's atmosphere over the previous ten years was 150 metric tons [165 tons].

Aschbacher added that technological advancements must be made to track better, forecast, and mitigate satellite and rocket bodies headed for uncontrolled reentries.

Other orbital-class rockets are typically designed so that their first stages can be safely pushed down into the ocean after separating from their upper stages, or in the case of SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy; they are designed to land on the ground and be reused safely. The uncontrolled reentries are an unfortunate feature of the design of the Long March 5B. Since the Long March 5B lacks these powers, it must be dragged wherever it falls to be brought down.

Today's uncontrolled #LongMarch5B re-entry underlines the growing risk for critical infrastructure both in space & on the ground posed by unsustainable spaceflight practices. Big, classic designs have little demisability — pieces will reach the surface https://t.co/h5vPIwzfKC
— Josef Aschbacher (@AschbacherJosef) November 4, 2022

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China's Long March 5B Rocket Crashed Safely

A 23-ton piece of space trash from China's Long March 5B rocket safely descended to the south-central Pacific Ocean in November 2022. In a previous report from Science Times, the rocket's core stage, which was used to launch the third and final module to Tiangong Space Station, was believed to be the source of the huge debris.

The relative speed of the camera-carrying satellite and the rogue rocket body was 8.3 kilometers per second. They passed each other at a distance of 355 kilometers. The opportunity only had 0.3 seconds to act.

China allowed the core stage to launch into orbit without offering a secure way to land back on Earth. Without the capabilities for a safe deorbit following the launch, tons of metal debris were scattered across the surface since the rocket engineers had left it up to chance as to where the rocket stage would re-enter.