Chinese rocket destroyed by burning in the sky of western Nepal

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The remains of a Chinese rocket which was used to deliver spy satellites into space burned up over the skies of Nepal on Saturday, the USNI reported.

The similar incident had occurred over the Texas last week.

The Chang Zheng 2D ‘Long March’ rocket reentered the atmosphere on Saturday after more than 200 days in space and burned up over the skies of Nepal, according to astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell.

The four-ton piece of space junk was part of the China National Space Administration’s Y-65 mission. It had deliver three military electronic surveillance satellites on July 29 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in central China.

On March 8, Wednesday, a rocket that launched from the same facility with a similar payload broke up over Texas – entering the atmosphere over Marathon before leaving a debris field hundreds of miles long and miles wide over rural Texas – after dropping off a trio of spy satellites set to monitor the South China Sea.

According to McDowell, the Chinese rocket crashed into the sky over western Nepal.

“The plan when they launched it was for it to reenter somewhere random in the world at some unpredictable time sometime this year,” McDowell told USNI News. “That may not be a good plan or a very specific one, but it’s sort of a plan.”

China has been widely criticized for allowing uncontrolled reentry of its space debris. In November, a 23-ton stage from its Long March 5 rocket made an uncontrolled landing into the Pacific, but not before prompting worldwide warnings. (PARDAFAS)