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A four-ton piece from a Chinese rocket made an uncontrolled free fall and disintegrated over Texas last week.
It all went down, literally, on March 8, according to Metro, citing a report from the U.S. Space Command. A piece of the Long March rocket made its way through the atmosphere at over 17,000 mph and disintegrated over the Lone Star State. The debris field "was over the least populated counties in Texas," the news outlet reported.
"The fallen debris was a piece of space junk in low earth orbit before it made 'an uncontrolled reentry,'" the news outlet reported.
This rocket, a 135-foot-long Chang Zheng 2D rocket, is capable of carrying 8,000 pounds of cargo into low earth orbit. It took off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China on June 23, 2022 and successfully delivered three military spy satellites into orbit over the South China Sea. When satellites drop off their load, they become "space junk" and orbit the planet before free falling.
U.S. officials are still figuring out if any debris hit the ground. Chinese officials have not acknowledged the incident yet.