China says its rocket debris unlikely to cause any harm

In this file photo taken on April 29, 2021, a Long March 5B rocket, carrying China's Tianhe space station core module, lifts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China's Hainan province. - AFP

BEIJING (Reuters): Most debris from a large Chinese rocket expected to plunge back through the atmosphere this weekend will be burned up on reentry and is highly unlikely to cause any harm, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Friday (May 7).

The US military said on Wednesday (May 5) what it called an uncontrolled re-entry was being tracked by US Space Command. The Long March 5B rocket blasted off from China's Hainan island on April 29, carrying the unmanned Tianhe module, which contains what will become living quarters on a permanent Chinese space station.