![]() The facility, planned for either the surface or in the orbit of the Moon, would house experimental research facilities and would be Beijing’s biggest international space cooperation project to date. The European Space Agency has sent astronauts to China to receive training in order to be ready to work inside the Chinese space station once it is launched.Ĭhina also said in March it was planning to build a separate lunar space station with Russia. With the retirement of the International Space Station after 2024, China’s could become the only space station in Earth’s orbit.Īlthough Chinese space authorities have said they are open to foreign collaboration, the scope of that cooperation is as yet unclear. President Xi Jinping called it a key step in “building a great nation of science and technology”. The launch of China’s first module of its “Heavenly Palace” space station in April – housing life support equipment and a living space for astronauts – was a milestone in Beijing’s ambitious plan to establish a permanent human presence in space. Space has become the latest theatre for the big power play between China and the United States. He said potentially dangerous debris would likely escape incineration after streaking through the atmosphere at hypersonic speed but in all likelihood would fall into the sea.īased on its current orbit, the debris trail is likely to fall somewhere as far north as New York, Madrid or Beijing and as far south as southern Chile and Wellington, New Zealand, or anywhere in between, McDowell said. Harvard-based astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell said there was a chance that pieces of the rocket could come down over land such as in May 2020, when pieces from another Chinese Long March 5B rocket rained down on the Ivory Coast, damaging several buildings. The location of the rocket’s descent into Earth’s atmosphere as it falls back from space “cannot be pinpointed until within hours of its re-entry”, which is projected to occur around May 8, US Space Command said. Hopefully, he said, the rocket will land “in a place where it won’t harm anyone … the ocean, or someplace like that”.Įven if the rocket or parts of it do fall from the sky, without breaking up on re-entry, there is a good chance it will just splash down into the ocean on a planet made up of 70 percent water.īut Austin suggested the Chinese were negligent in letting the rocket body fall out of orbit, saying those who were in the “space domain” should “operate in a safe and thoughtful mode”. “We have the capability to do a lot of things, but we don’t have a plan to shoot it down,” Austin told journalists. ![]() The Long March-5 rocket is seen at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China’s Hainan province in July 2020 ‘Shoot it down’?Īs fevered speculation over the rocket’s trajectory back to Earth pinballed across social media, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday said the US military had no plans to shoot it down. Most of the rocket components would likely be destroyed upon re-entry into the atmosphere, he added, saying authorities “will inform the public of the situation in a timely manner”.Ĭhina has poured billions of dollars into space exploration in efforts to reflect its rising global stature and growing technological might, following in the extra-terrestrial footsteps of the United States, Russia, and Europe. “The probability of causing harm to aviation activities or on the ground is extremely low,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said. Keep reading list of 4 items list 1 of 4 China says new spacecraft makes successful return to Earth list 2 of 4 China spacecraft sends Mars footage for first time list 3 of 4 Photos: ISS astronauts splash down off Florida on SpaceX craft list 4 of 4 To the moon? Musk’s SpaceX Starship passes its biggest test yet end of listīut Beijing downplayed the risk of danger.
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