The takeoff rocket from a Chinese Long March 5B rocket salad reentered Earth ’s atmosphere at 6:01 a.m. ET Friday , with rubble falling Cicily Isabel Fairfield of the Mexican coast . There are no composition of accidental injury , but the 22 - metric - ton marrow level imperil populated areas during its last orbit .
U.S. Space Commandconfirmedthe booster ’s atmospheric reentry through Twitter , saying it fell over the south - central Pacific Ocean . Interestingly , Space Command tracked asecond atmospheric reentryconnected with the Long March 5B arugula , propose the skyrocket snapped into two big pieces .
USSPACECOMcan confirm a second atmospheric reentry correlated with the#PRC ’s Long March 5B#CZ5Bas it give-up the ghost the#USSPACECOMArea of Responsibility over the Northeast Pacific Ocean region at 4:06am MDT/10:06 UTC on Nov. 4.https://t.co/keJdc1tmxi

The launch of a Long March 5B rocket on 23 February 2025.Photo: Chinatopix (AP)
— U.S. Space Command ( @US_SpaceCom)November 4 , 2022
The odds were dependable that the 108 - foot - long ( 33 - meter ) booster would come down over the ocean , as two - tierce of Earth is covered in urine . Still , China is choosing to play with people ’s lives and property , designing a Eruca vesicaria sativa that , instead of performing a safe and operate reentry after launch , flies into a rapidly decaying orbit . The rocket , carrying the third and final module for China ’s Tiangong outer space station , launchedfrom Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan on October 31 . This tick the 4th social function that a Long March 5B skyrocket has go in into an uncontrolled State Department .
concluding trajectory for the CZ-5B magnetic core stage that#reenteredover the eastern Pacific Ocean today : pic.twitter.com / BemiR8l8pu

— Dr Marco Langbroek ( @Marco_Langbroek)November 4 , 2022
commission controller had no way to control the booster unit once it entered electron orbit , forcing experts to predict where and when it might land , which is notoriously difficult to do . By yesterday evening , most protrusion had the shoplifter reentering around 12:00 p.m. ET today , give or take a few 60 minutes . The rocket , falling at 6:01 ET this morning time , fall well in procession of the estimates churn less than a one-half day before it finally dove into the atmosphere at speeds reaching 17,500 mi per hr ( 28,160 km per hour ) .
Debris fall to the sou'-west of the Mexican seacoast , near 2.2 S 114.1 W. The booster amplifier was act in a northeastly counseling at the time , and had it kept going it would have fly over Mexico and parts of the United States . Debris footprints are n’t small , with breadth often achieve 44 miles ( 70 km ) wide and over 1,240 miles ( 2,000 km ) in length , Ted Muelhaupt , a consultant with Aerospace ’s Corporate Chief Engineer ’s Office , told newsperson on Wednesday . Muelhaupt said that between 10 % and 40 % of the booster was likely to live reentry .

In fact , potential but not likely that debris could have made it as far as Tabasco state . However , no reports yet of detritus found .
— Jonathan McDowell ( @planet4589)November 4 , 2022
During its concluding orbit , the core microscope stage fly over Spain , Saudi Arabia , and westerly Australia . Spain temporarily closed part of its air space as the booster flew overhead , accordingto Reuters . No one was pain ( as far as we know ) , but the wayward booster did result in worriment .

This is the fourth incident involving an out - of - ascendency Long March 5B effect stage . Two days ago , debris from the maiden launching of the rocketfell onto the Ivory Coast , reportedlycausing damage to property . Debris from the second flight fell harmlessly into theIndian Ocean , but the reentry from the third escape in July 2022 wasvisible from Malaysia , with dangerous bits of space dust raining down onto part of Indonesia and Philippines .
More : After 3 Months in Space , China ’s Mysterious Spaceplane eject Unknown Object .
Atmospheric entryOuter spaceSpaceflightSpaceplane

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