The China Manned Space Agency said most of the final stage of the Long March-5B rocket burned up after entering the atmosphere. Earlier, the agency had said it planned to allow the booster to fall without guidance. The location of the “landing area” mentioned in the announcement is in the waters southeast of the Philippine city of Puerto Princesa on the island of Palawan. Philippine authorities did not immediately confirm whether anyone was affected. China has faced criticism in the past for allowing rocket components to fall back to Earth unchecked. NASA accused Beijing last year of “failing to meet responsible standards regarding its space debris” after parts of a Chinese rocket fell into the Indian Ocean. The country’s first space station, Tiangong-1, crashed into the Pacific Ocean in 2016 after Beijing confirmed it had lost control. An 18-tonne rocket fell out of control in May 2020. China also drew criticism after it used a missile to destroy one of its weather satellites in 2007, which created a debris field that other governments feared could endanger other satellites. Read more: China launches three astronauts to complete new space station July 24 Long March-5B, China’s most powerful rocket, carried the Wentian laboratory into orbit on July 24. It docked at the main Tianhe module, home to three astronauts, on Monday. The remains of a separate cargo spacecraft serving the station crashed in a pre-determined area of the South Pacific after most of it burned up on re-entry, the government had already announced.
