The long -term rocket had taken off on Monday from southern China to deliver the last module of the Chinese space station. Spanish airspace was partly closed on Friday morning, especially in Catalonia.
Le Monde with AFP
Spain was forced to briefly close part of its airspace on Friday, November 4 due to debris from a Chinese rocket that crossed the area. Air traffic above several cities was disrupted in the morning, authorities announced.
Flights were “completely” suspended for forty minutes in Catalonia (northeast of Spain), as well as in other regions of the north of the country, “due to the risks associated with the passage of the object Spatial CZ-5B in Spanish airspace, “tweeted Catalonia Civil Protection. The partial closure of the airspace started at 09 h 38 local, it was said at the same source.
Consequently, flights with the origin or for destination Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, but also Tarragona, Reus or even Ibiza, in the Mediterranean Balearic archipelago, suffered disruption, underlined the national manager of airports, aena.
The 5b long rocket 5b (CZ-5B) had taken off on Monday in southern China to deliver the last module of a Chinese space station currently under construction.
Debris of this rocket fell into the Pacific Ocean at 11:01 a.m., announced the American space command in a tweet.
fall potentially dangerous
The entry into the atmosphere of a rocket gives off immense heat and causes friction, segments can then burn and disintegrate, but the biggest machines, like the long step-5b, may not be entirely destroyed.
The risk is then that their debris land on the surface of the earth and cause damage, even victims, even if this danger is low, the planet being covered with 70 % of water. Data-format = “inread” aria-hidden = “true”>
This is not the first time that China has lost control of a space object when returning to earth. In July, the remains of a Chinese rocket had fallen into the Sea of Sulu, in the Philippines, which had caused the anger of American officials, including those of NASA, who had reproached Beijing for not having shared the information on the potentially dangerous fall of these debris.
In 2020, debris from another long march rocket had crashed on villages in Côte d’Ivoire, causing damage, but without doing injuries.
The Asian giant has been investing billions of euros for several decades in its space program.