This archive report was first published on 9 May 2021.
On Sunday, May 9, 2021, debris from a Chinese rocket that had been hurtling back towards Earth disintegrated over the Indian Ocean, according to China.
The rocket's re-entry was monitored by US and European tracking sites, which had been tracking the uncontrolled fall of the Long March-5b vehicle.
Chinese state media reported that parts of the rocket re-entered the atmosphere at 10:24 Beijing time (02:24 GMT) on Sunday.
US Space Command confirmed that the Chinese Long March-5b re-entered over the Arabian Peninsula, but it was unknown if the debris impacted land or water.
Ahead of the rocket's re-entry, there were fears that debris could come down in an inhabited area, with US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin saying China had been negligent in letting the rocket fall out of orbit.
However, space experts had predicted that the chances of anyone actually being hit by a piece of space junk were very small, due to the vast amount of ocean covering the Earth's surface and the presence of uninhabited land areas.
