SHANGHAI -- China refuted Monday "U.S. hype" that its rocket was falling back to Earth in an controlled way, and that landing points for the Long March 5B debris were within its estimates.
"As far as I know, the final stage of the rocket operation adopted passivation technology that would not cause any explosion during orbit and the dispersion of debris in space," foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters on Monday. "The bulk of the components were destroyed upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, and the likelihood of any harm to aviation activities and the ground was minimal."
