NASA accuses China of acting irresponsibly over what happened with its rocket

• “You are not meeting accountability standards,” said Bill Nelson, NASA administrator.

Most of the debris from the Chinese Long March 5B rocket disintegrated on Sunday when it collided with the atmosphere and fell harmlessly into the Indian Ocean , the China Office of Manned Space Engineering reported. However, China’s management of the rocket has led to several criticisms, one of the most notorious has come from NASA.

Bill Nelson, a NASA administrator, was clear: “It is clear that China is not meeting responsible standards with respect to its space debris.”

“It is critical that China and all nations and commercial entities with space travel act responsibly and transparently in space to ensure the security, stability and long-term sustainability of outer space activities.”

And he added that “nations with space travel should minimize the risks to people and property on Earth from reentry of space objects and maximize transparency regarding those operations.”

The size of the object, with an estimated mass of between 17 and 21 tons and a size of approximately 30 meters, and the speed at which it was moving – some 28,000 kilometers per hour – led to the activation of several of the most important space surveillance services. of the world, including the Pentagon or the European Union Space Surveillance and Tracking Service (EUSST).