Democracy Dies in Darkness

Debris from China rocket launch to crash-land — and no one knows where

Updated July 25, 2022 at 4:34 a.m. EDT|Published July 25, 2022 at 1:22 a.m. EDT
The Long March 5B carrier rocket blasts off from the Wenchang launch site in China’s Hainan province on July 24. (Zhang Liyun/AP)
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China’s latest launch of a huge rocket is, once again, raising alarm that the debris will crash into the Earth’s surface in an uncertain location and at great speed.

On Sunday afternoon local time, the Long March 5B blasted off from the Wenchang launch site on the southern island province of Hainan, carrying a solar-powered new lab, the Wentian experiment module, to be added to China’s Tiangong Space Station.