China hits back at US’ rocket debris claims

China is a responsible spacefaring actor when it comes to dealing with rocket debris, observers said, challenging NASA Administrator Bill Nelson’s accusations regarding Chinese rocket debris.

Nelson published a statement on NASA’s website on Aug 7 claiming that China “did not share specific trajectory information as their Long March 5B rocket fell back to Earth”.

The statement followed a string of sensationalist Western media reports about the risks of rocket debris crashing over an inhabited area in what they called “an uncontrolled re-entry” of a Chinese Long March 5B.

The rocket, which blasted off on July 24, was used to send China’s Wentian space lab module to dock with the country’s Tiangong space station.

Yang Yuguang, vice-chair of the International Astronautical Federation’s Space Transportation Committee, said that Nelson’s claims were groundless.