Chinese Rocket that Delivered Military Spy Satellites Breaks Up Over Texas

Original article here.

The second stage of a Chinese rocket that delivered a trio of military surveillance satellites to space in June disintegrated over Texas on Wednesday, USNI News has learned.

The four-ton component of a Chang Zheng 2D ‘Long March’ rocket punched through the atmosphere on Wednesday over Texas at 17,000 miles per hour and disintegrated, two defense officials confirmed to USNI News on Thursday.

U.S. military officials have yet to find any debris from the rocket stage, however, USNI News understands the debris field could be miles wide and several hundred miles long.

According to North American Aerospace Defense Command satellite tracking data, the stage was a piece of space junk in low Earth orbit before it made its unscheduled descent.

A Pentagon spokesman acknowledged a request for information from USNI News on Thursday but did not immediately respond to questions. The Department of Defense did not issue a statement prior to the entrance into the atmosphere.

[🔴China’s 21st launch in 2022] At UTC 02:22 June 23, 3 Yaogan(遥感/RemoteSensing)-35-02 satellites were successfully launched by #CZ2D Y64 rocket in Xichang, Sichuan. This is the 424th launch of Long March rocket family. HD: https://t.co/018SGyq48M pic.twitter.com/0kDtkg7hua

— CNSA Watcher (@CNSAWatcher) June 23, 2022

Based on the NORAD tracking data, the stage belonged to a mission that delivered three military electronic signals surveillance satellites that were meant to collect signals data from the South China Sea, astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics told USNI New on Thursday.

The rocket took off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on June 23 in central China.

Chinese officials have not acknowledged the unplanned reentry as of this posting.

The 135-foot-long Chang Zheng 2D rocket is capable of carrying about 8,000 pounds of cargo into low Earth orbit, according to information from the Chinese space agency.

U.S. officials are still determining if any debris has hit the ground. China has been criticized for space debris entering the atmosphere and unpredictably causing a hazard to population centers.

The breakup of the Long March rocket follows the U.S. destruction of a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina after it spent more than a week flying over the United States.