Chinese officials are blasting the United States for making too big a deal about their 100-foot rocket that’s due to crash on Earth sometime this weekend.
In a story published by the country’s state media, officials criticize the “Western hype of the 'China threat' in space technology advancement," adding it’s “completely normal” for rocket debris to return to Earth.
Chinese experts say the rocket, which helped carry the country’s new space station into orbit last week, will most “likely fall in international waters.”
Though U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin agrees there’s a strong chance the rocket will land in the ocean...but there’s also a chance it won’t.
“For those of us who operate in the space domain, there should be a requirement to operate in a safe and thoughtful mode, and make sure we take those kinds of things into consideration,” he says.