BEIJING –
A Chinese cargo spacecraft that served the country’s permanent orbiting space station has largely burned up on re-entry, amid separate concerns over China’s decision to allow a massive launch vehicle to fall uncontrolled to Earth.
Only small parts of the Tianzhou-3 spacecraft survived to land safely on Wednesday in a pre-designated area of the South Pacific, the China Manned Space Agency said.
By July 17, the spacecraft was docked with the main body of the Tianhe station, and its return follows Monday’s addition of a laboratory module as China moves to complete the station in the coming months.
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 the help of other nations. The US excluded China from the International Space Station because of its military ties.
The booster that caught the attention of the space community was part of the massive 23-tonne Long March 5B-Y3 rocket – China’s most powerful – that carried the Wentian module to the station, which currently houses three astronauts.
China has decided not to guide the booster back through the atmosphere, and it is unclear exactly when or where it will come down to Earth. Although it will largely burn up on return, there remains a small risk of fragments causing damage or casualties.
Although China is not alone in such practices, the size of the Long March missile stage has drawn particular attention.
China has allowed rocket stages to fall on their own to Earth at least twice before and was accused by NASA last year of “failing to meet responsible standards regarding its space debris” after parts of a Chinese rocket landed in the Indian Ocean.
China also drew heavy criticism after it used a missile to destroy one of its defunct weather satellites in 2007, creating a huge debris field.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Wednesday dismissed such concerns.
“From the development stage of the space engineering program, China has taken into account the reduction of debris and reentry from orbit into the atmosphere of missions involving launch vehicles and satellites sent into orbit,” Zhao said at a daily briefing on Wednesday.
“It is understood that this type of rocket adopts a special technical design, so most of the components will be burned up and destroyed during the re-entry process,” Zhao said. “The possibility of causing damage to aviation activities or to the ground is extremely low.”
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