The Chinese Government defended its handling of the uncontrollable rocket booster that landed very close to the Maldives archipelago. The rocket boost burned up over the Indian Ocean, however Beijing says that it is being held to a different standard than the US and other space programs. Earlier this week, NASA administrator and experts accused Beijing of acting recklessly for allowing its rocket to fall to earth uncontrolled. 

© CCTV

“China has been closely tracking its trajectory and issued statements on the re-entry situation in advance,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said. “There has been no report of harm on the ground. China also shares the results of re-entry predictions through international cooperation mechanisms.”

Hua also complained that Beijing was being treated unfairly. She pointed to a SpaceX launch earlier this year where its debris fell in Washington and on the Oregon coast. “American media used romantic rhetoric like ‘shooting stars lighting up the night sky,’” she said. “But when it comes to the Chinese side, it’s a completely different approach. We are willing to work with other countries including the United States to strengthen cooperation in the use of outer space, but we also oppose double standards on this issue," Hua said.

It seems like Chinese officials are still ignorant of the fact that an uncontrollable rocket falling to Earth was highly irresponsible of them in the first place. The rocket was sighted by people in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Oman where many of them posted recordings of the debris reentering earth. 

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However, with most launches, rocket boosters are usually discarded soon after liftoff and don’t go into orbit which was not the case for China’s Long March 5B rocket. Even if rocket boosters do go into orbit, space engineers can control its speed and trajectory by firing up the boosters whenever necessary, a capability the Long March 5B lacked. 

Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, who tracked the tumbling rocket part, said on Twitter, “An ocean reentry was always statistically the most likely. It appears China won its gamble… But it was still reckless.”

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