Chinese rocket debris crashes into the sea – officials

Chinese and US space officials have confirmed that debris from China’s Long March 5 rocket has fallen back to Earth, crashing into the Indian and Pacific oceans.

They said most of the remains burnt on re-entering the atmosphere. They identified the Sulu Sea in the Pacific as the re-entry location, according to the BBC.

Earlier, space experts had said the probability of the rocket landing in a populated area was extremely low.

However, the BBC notes that the uncontrolled return of the rocket’s core stage has raised questions about responsibility for space junk.

Nasa has previously called for the Chinese space agency to design rockets to disintegrate into smaller pieces upon re-entry, as is the international norm.

The BBC reports that recent rockets heading to China’s unfinished space station, known as Tiangong, have lacked the capability for a controlled re-entry.