The Long March 5B, a variant of China’s largest rocket, successfully launched the 22.5-metric-ton Tianhe module from Wenchang Thursday local time.
Tianhe separated from the core stage of the launcher after 492 seconds of flight, directly entering its planned initial orbit.
If so, it will be one of the largest instances of uncontrolled reentry of a spacecraft and could potentially land on an inhabited area.
Most expendable rocket first stages do not reach orbital velocity and reenter the atmosphere and land in a pre-defined reentry zone.
The first launch of the Long March 5B also saw the first stage reach orbit and make an uncontrolled reentry six days later.
The largest and most famous incident was the 1979 reentry of NASA’s 76-ton Skylab, whose uncontrolled reentry scattered debris across the Indian Ocean and Western Australia.
China’s 8-ton Tiangong-1 spacelab made a high-profile uncontrolled reentry in 2018, while the successor Tiangong-2 was deorbited in a controlled manner in 2019. »