Debris from uncontrolled, 23-ton Chinese rocket falls to Earth

The rocket carrying the Shenzhou-14 mission with three Chinese astronauts lifts off at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest Chinas Gansu Province on June 5, 2022. -(Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images) A massive Chinese booster rocket fell uncontrolled to Earth on Saturday and landed over the Indian Ocean, according to U.S.

Space Command. The booster is part of the 23-ton Long March 5B-Y3 rocket — China’s most powerful — that carried the Wentian module to China’s orbiting space station, aboard which three astronauts currently reside.

China decided not to guide the booster back through the atmosphere.Aerospace Corporation, a nonprofit space research organization, predicted the booster would hit earth around 1:08 p.m.

Eastern time, give or take an hour. According to The New York Times, you have a better chance of winning the Mega Millions lottery than being struck by the falling space debris, but space debris experts told The Times the minimal risk is still higher than they’d like."This is a real concern," space debris expert Ted Muelhaupt said. "The Chinese shouldn’t do this."Aerospace Corporation notes that over 88 percent of the world’s population lives under the reentry's potential debris footprint.  "A reentry of this size will not burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere, and the general rule of thumb is that 20–40 percent of the mass of a large object will reach the ground," the organization said on its website.China’s space program is run by the ruling Communist Party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army, and has largely proceeded with the space station program without other nations’ assistance.