China launches space station module with giant rocket

Another big Chinese rocket launched into space Sunday at 2:22 p.m. Beijing time, and once again, no one knows where or when it will come down.

It will be a replay of two earlier launches of the same rocket, the Long March 5B, which is one of the largest currently in use. For about a week after launch, the world’s watchers of space debris will be tracking the 10-story, 23-ton rocket booster as wisps of air friction slowly pull it back down.

The chance that it will strike anyone on Earth is low but significantly higher than what many space experts consider acceptable.

The powerful rocket was designed specifically to launch pieces of China’s Tiangong space station. The latest mission lifted Wentian, a laboratory module that will expand the station’s scientific research capabilities. It will also add three more spaces for astronauts to sleep and another airlock for them to conduct spacewalks.

Completing and operating the space station is described in state media broadcasts as important to China’s national prestige. But the country has taken some damage to its reputation during earlier flights of the rocket.

After the first Long March 5B launch in 2020, the booster reentered over West Africa, with debris causing damage but no injuries to villages in the nation of Ivory Coast.

The booster from the second launch, in 2021, splashed harmlessly in the Indian Ocean near the Maldives.

Still, Bill Nelson, the NASA administrator, issued a statement criticizing the Chinese. “It is clear that China is failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris,” he said.

China rejected that criticism with considerable fanfare. Hua Chunying, a senior spokeswoman at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accused the United States of “hype.”