Remnants of China’s biggest rocket landed in the Indian Ocean on Sunday, ending days of speculation over where the debris would hit.
Some reports had speculated that the debris could land somewhere in Africa or even the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
Last year, pieces from the first Long March 5B fell on Abidjan, in Ivory Coast, damaging several buildings. No injuries were reported.
With most of the Earth’s surface covered by water, the odds of populated area on land being hit had been low, and the likelihood of injuries even lower, according to experts.
Chinese state media said the bulk of the giant rocket components was destroyed upon re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
According to China Manned Space Engineering Office, parts of the Long March 5B re-entered the atmosphere at 10:24 a.m. Beijing time (0224 GMT) and landed at a location with the coordinates of longitude 72.47 degrees east and latitude 2.65 degrees north.
The coordinates put the point of impact in the ocean, west of the Maldives archipelago.
Most of the debris was burnt up in the atmosphere, the China Manned Space Engineering Office said.
Debris from the Long March 5B has had some people looking warily skyward since shortly after it blasted off from China’s Hainan island on April 29.
The Long March-5B Y2 rocket, carrying the Tianhe module, the first and core module for the construction of China’s space station, blasted off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of the southern island province of Hainan on April 29.
It was the second deployment of the 5B variant since its maiden flight in May 2020.
