The spent stage of the Long March-5B launch vehicle entered the Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean on May 9
WASHINGTON, May 10. /TASS/. The defense departments of the United States and China did not contact the situation with the fall of the wreckage of the Chinese launch vehicle Long March-5B ("Changzheng-5B", CZ-5B) to the Ground. This was announced on Monday by the press secretary of the US Defense Department, John Kirby.
"I can only speak for the [US] Department of Defense, and the answer is no," he said, when asked about any contacts between the US and China regarding the situation.
The spent stage of the Long March-5B launch vehicle entered the Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean on May 9. According to the statement of the Chinese manned space flight program, most of the debris of the stage burned up during re-entry into the atmosphere. In turn, the US Space Command reported that the second stage of the rocket entered the atmosphere "over the Arabian Peninsula on May 8 at approximately 22: 15 East Coast time" (05: 15 May 9 Moscow time), and the debris " fell in the Indian Ocean north of the Maldives."
The head of NASA, Bill Nelson, on May 9, made a statement that China does not meet the standards for space debris. In China, this statement was criticized.
On April 29, the Chinese National Space Administration launched the main module of the country's space station into orbit using the Changzheng-5B carrier. The launch was declared successful.
