A large segment of Long March 5B Yao-2, a Chinese rocket, re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated over the Indian Ocean on Sunday. It was developed and built by the China National Space Administration. The rocket carried Tianhe module, the core part of China’s new permanent space station. 

The debris from the Chinese rocket made an uncontrolled entry into the Earth’s atmosphere and is said to be one of the largest objects to fall back.

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Here’s all you need to know about the Long March 5B Yao-2 rocket:

– The rocket took off from Wenchang Spacecraft launch site located in Hainan, China on April 29 last month. It was used to launch the core module of China’s space station. 

– Debris from the rocket fell into the Indian Ocean on Sunday. The landing area is at 72.47° east longitude and 2.65° north latitude. Scientists earlier said that it might land on one of the five oceans, that cover 70% of the planet. 

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– The 18-tonne object came down at 7.54 am IST on May 9.

– Usually, most of the spacecraft burns while entering into Earth’s atmosphere, but there are chances that the Chinese rocket’s core might have survived to Earth because of metals used in the vehicle that have high melting points.

– Chinese administration had earlier said that there was an extremely low risk of damage to be caused by the debris. “The probability of causing harm… on the ground is extremely low,” it said.