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An unruly chunk of rocket debris is thought to have crashed into the moon. Astronomers believe that the rocket piece, which experts have said originated in China, hit the lunar surface in the early hours of March 4. We won’t know that it hit the moon for sure until two satellites that orbit the moon pass over the possible impact site. These satellites could photograph any crater that resulted from the collision The rocket was heading for a collision with the dark side of the moon so “live” coverage of the event wasn’t possible. However, experts have now created a...

Following (Thursday's) yesterday’s launch, the core stage of China’s Long March 5B rocket inadvertently went into low Earth orbit. The booster—now spinning out of control—is poised to perform an uncontrolled reentry from orbit, potentially threatening inhabited areas. As SpaceNews reports, the core stage will likely fall from low Earth orbit at some point in the next few days, making it one of the biggest human-made objects to perform an uncontrolled reentry. The gigantic core stage, measuring 98 feet (30 meters) long and 16 feet (5 meters) wide, might burn up during atmospheric reentry, but debris could potentially reach the surface....

Chunks of the massive Chinese rocket that recently took an uncontrolled plunge back into the Earth’s atmosphere narrowly missed hitting New York City, according to a report. Had the Long March 5B rocket re-entered the atmosphere about 15 to 20 minutes earlier on Monday, it would have rained debris on the nation’s largest metro area, according to Ars Technica, a technology-focused publication. The about 100-foot-long rocket was launched on May 5, carrying an unnamed prototype of a newly designed Chinese crew capsule. After about a week in orbit, the 20-ton core stage of the rocket fell back into the atmosphere...

A ball of light that blinked into South Florida’s inky predawn sky Wednesday before bursting into pieces with dazzling long-lived tails was a hunk of cosmic scrap metal, one of 25,000 objects the Air Force tracks in space. The flaming debris, part of a Chinese CZ3 rocket body, was forecast to reenter the atmosphere Wednesday morning but no one predicted the delight and awe it would spark in those who saw it lazily fall toward Earth just after 2 a.m. At least two people called the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, one who said there were UFOs over the skies...

A Chinese rocket re-entered the atmosphere near California late Wednesday night around the same time many people shared video on social media of a mysterious bright object streaking across the night sky. U.S. Strategic Command spokeswoman Julie Ziegenhorn wouldn't say if the rocket ever posed danger to people on the ground. She says the command often sees re-entries. Ziegenhorn tells The Associated Press the Chinese CZ-7 rocket re-entered the atmosphere around 11:36 p.m. Central time. That's about the same time social media lit up with reports from Nevada, Utah and California of a small fireball streaking across the sky. Northern...

Last night, Feb. 23-24, sky watchers in the western half of North America witnessed a spectacular cluster of fireballs and meteors. We now know it was the re-entry and breakup of a Chinese rocket body, specifically stage 3 of the CZ-4B rocket that launched the Yaogan Weixing 26 satellite in Dec. 2014. - Donny Mott photographed the glowing debris from Spirit Lake, Idaho. According to satellite tracking expert Ted Molczan, "there are confirmed sightings from Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana, British Columbia, Alberta."