China Says Rocket Debris Unlikely to Cause Damage
Voice of America
Debris from a large, out-of-control Chinese rocket that is expected to reenter the atmosphere this weekend is unlikely to cause damage, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Friday.
The Long March 5B rocket was launched April 29 from Hainan Island. It was carrying a module for a planned Chinese space station. After the unmanned Tianhe module separated from the rocket, the nearly 21,000-kilogram rocket should have followed a planned reentry trajectory into the ocean, but now, no one knows where the debris will land. "U.S. Space Command is aware of and tracking the location of the Chinese Long March 5B in space, but its exact entry point into the Earth's atmosphere cannot be pinpointed until within hours of its reentry," Lt. Col. Angela Webb, U.S. Space Command Public Affairs, told CBS News. Reentry is expected May 8.
Local officials and navy personnel attend a joint Iranian, Russian and Chinese military drill in the Gulf of Oman, Iran, on March 12, 2025. (Iranian Army Office via AFP) Chinese navy troops attending a joint naval drill with Iran and Russia stand on the deck of their warship in an official arrival ceremony at Shahid Beheshti port in Chabahar in the Gulf of Oman, Iran, on March 11, 2025.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves as he arrives for Mauritius' 57th National Day celebrations at the Champ De Mars, Port Louis, Mauritius, March 12, 2025. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, and his Mauritius counterpart Navin Ramgoolam pay homage after laying a wreath at the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden during his State visit, in Pamplemousses, Mauritius, March 11, 2025. FILE - Sailors walk on the deck of the INS Imphal, a stealth guided-missile destroyer, at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai, Dec. 22, 2023.

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Passengers who were rescued from a train after it was attacked by separatist militants, walk with their belongings at the Railway Station in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan, March 12, 2025. A passenger who was rescued from a train after it was attacked by separatist militants receives medical aid at the Mach Railway Station in Mach, Balochistan, Pakistan, March 11, 2025. Passengers rescued by security forces from a passenger train attacked by insurgents, receive water bottles upon their arrival at a railway station in Quetta, Pakistan, March 12, 2025. Balochistan province, Pakistan

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