--- title: "Out-of-Control Chinese Rocket Reportedly Dropped Debris on Africa" description: "Debris from China's Long March-5 rocket may have touched ground on the Ivory Coast after uncontrollably hurtling through the Earth's atmosphere." date: "2020-05-13" modified: "2020-05-13" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/chinese-rocket-reportedly-dropped-debris-africa" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "china" - "long march-5" - "rocket" --- # Out-of-Control Chinese Rocket Reportedly Dropped Debris on Africa ![Debris from China's Long March-5 rocket may have touched ground on the Ivory Coast after uncontrollably hurtling through the Earth's atmosphere.]() *\Image: Aminata24 via Twitter\* On Monday, the core of China's colossal Long March 5B rocket [made an uncontrolled descent]() back to Earth. Massive chunks of the rocket screamed over and over several major US cities before splashing down in the Atlantic Monday afternoon, as [confirmed by the US Air Force](). Now, it sounds as though parts falling off it may have left a trail of debris. [According to *The Verge*](), bits of the rocket appear to have touched ground on the Ivory Coast. [Local media]() reported that mysterious metallic objects were raining from the sky. "When you have a big chunk of metal screaming through the upper atmosphere in a particular direction at a particular time, and you get reports of things falling out of the sky at that location, at that time, it’s not a big leap to connect them," Harvard-Smithsonian astronomer Jonathan McDowell, who has closely followed the story about the falling rocket, told *The Verge*. McDowell pointed out that the reported location of the debris aligns with the rocket's path. https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1260238242294706177 Some of the parts were as long as 12 meters (39 feet). https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1260222397350887425 The events surrounding the messy reentry remain mysterious. "Did they perhaps have a plan to de-orbit it that went wrong?" McDowell told *The Verge*. "The Chinese have not discussed whether they had any plan of the sort, so therefore we’re forced to assume that they didn’t." According to McDowell, the 21 metric ton rocket core was "the most massive object to make an uncontrolled reentry since the 39-tonne Salyut-7 \[spacecraft\] in 1991," as he pointed out in a [tweet]() last week. It might not be the last time we'll see Chinese rocket parts raining from the sky. China is currently working on its new space station, to be completed by [2022](). That means plenty of new objects will be "reentering a few days after launch," as McDowell explained to *The Verge*. "And that's not good." **READ MORE:** [An out-of-control Chinese rocket may have dumped debris in Africa after falling from space]() \[*The Verge*\] **More on the rocket:** *[Oops: China Just Dropped a Huge Rocket Piece Back to Earth]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()