China dropped one of the biggest ever piece of space junk to free-fall to Earth

China dropped one of the biggest ever piece of space junk to free-fall to Earth

A huge piece of a rocket crashed into the Atlantic Ocean at 8:33 a.m.

On May 11, according to the U.S. Space Command's 18th Space Control Squadron.

For story suggestions or custom animation requests, contact tips@nextanimation.com.tw.

Visit http://archive.nextanimationstudio.com to view News Direct's complete archive of 3D news animations.

RESTRICTIONS: Broadcast: NO USE JAPAN, NO USE TAIWAN Digital: NO USE JAPAN, NO USE TAIWAN A huge piece of a rocket crashed into the Atlantic Ocean at 8:33 a.m.

On May 11, according to the U.S. Space Command's 18th Space Control Squadron.

The object, the core stage of China's Long March 5B rocket, laned off the coast of Mauritania.

SpaceFlightNow.com reports the core stage of the Chinese rocket was 30 meters long and 5 meters wide.

According to CNN, the rocket carried an uncrewed prototype spacecraft to orbit before making an uncontrolled fall to Earth.

The 18-tonne core stage is one of the biggest objects to fall uncontrollably to Earth.

Jonathan McDowell at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics tweeted that the rocket dashed over Los Angeles and New York City before crashing near West Africa.

McDowell says the core stage had slowed enough that it would have at most destroyed a house by the time of impact.

CNN reports the only larger objects to have made uncontrolled falls were Skylab in 1979, Skylab's rocket stage in 1975, Russia's Salyut 7 in 1991, and the space shuttle Columbia in 2003.

RUNDOWN SHOWS: 1.

Location of crashed Chinese rocket core stage 2.

Long March 5B rocket and crashed core stage 3.

Trajectory of the core stage 4.

Top five biggest space debris to make uncontrolled falls VOICEOVER (in English): "A huge piece of a rocket crashed into the Atlantic Ocean at 8:33 a.m.

On May 11, according to the U.S. Space Command's 18th Space Control Squadron.

The object, the core stage of China's Long March 5B rocket, laned off the coast of Mauritania." "SpaceFlightNow.com reports the core stage of the Chinese rocket was 30 meters long and 5 meters wide.

According to CNN, the rocket carried an uncrewed prototype spacecraft to orbit before making an uncontrolled fall to Earth." "The 18-tonne core stage is one of the biggest objects to fall uncontrollably to Earth.

Jonathan McDowell at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics tweeted that the rocket dashed over Los Angeles and New York City before crashing near West Africa." "McDowell says the core stage had slowed enough that it would have at most destroyed a house by the time of impact." "CNN reports the only larger objects to have made uncontrolled falls were Skylab in 1979, Skylab's rocket stage in 1975, Russia's Salyut 7 in 1991, and the space shuttle Columbia in 2003." SOURCES: SOURCES: 18th Space Control Squadron (Twitter), SpaceFlightNow.com, CNN, Jonathan McDowell (Twitter) https://twitter.com/18SPCS/status/1259891636189839360 https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/05/11/chinas-massive-long-march-5bs-rocket-falls-out-of-orbit-over-ocean/ https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/11/us/china-rocket-scn-trnd/index.html https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1259910216612827138 *** For story suggestions please contact tips@nextanimation.com.tw For technical and editorial support, please contact: Asia: +61 2 93 73 1841 Europe: +44 20 7542 7599 Americas and Latam: +1 800 738 8377