The sky really IS falling...

[gregr]

The US is tracking an uncontrolled Chinese rocket traveling at 18,000 mph that is expected to crash down around May 8

The debris could land anywhere: Its location will be known only within "hours" of its reentry, the US Space Command has said.

www.yahoo.com

 

[femurphy77]

More Chinese JUNK coming soon to a spot near you somewhere. Whodathunkit?

 

[Tombs]

They're cutting out the middle man and flinging chinese made junk directly into your back yard.

 

[BugI02]

The next 'variant' has to get here somehow

 

[Ark]

Look, man, once I hit that spacebar, that spent booster is somebody else's problem.

 

[KittySlayer]

Perhaps they have included some chips in the module so they can be installed in the backlog of new cars and trucks.

 

[Hkindiana]

If it lands in my yard, will it belong to me, or will the US Gov. come and take it?

 

[ljk]

233km as of now

 

[shibumiseeker]

We bombed Australia with Skylab...

 

[thompal]

We bombed Australia with Skylab...

Yeah, but we didn't "accidentally" launch it into low earth orbit.

Nice country you have there. It would be a shame if a missile fell on it.

 

[jsx1043]

Real-time tracking of the rocket. Just passed over Chicago as of this timestamp.

 

[Knight Rider]

Real-time tracking of the rocket. Just passed over Chicago as of this timestamp.

Another missed opportunity. Sorry my purple is broken.

 

[BigRed]

The US is tracking an uncontrolled Chinese rocket traveling at 18,000 mph that is expected to crash down around May 8

The debris could land anywhere: Its location will be known only within "hours" of its reentry, the US Space Command has said.

www.yahoo.com

What are the odds of it coming down on DC?

 

[printcraft]

Another missed opportunity.

FTFY
Fingers crossed...

 

[Expat]

We bombed Australia with Skylab...

I remember the excitement. As I recall there were Skylab watch parties.

 

[printcraft]

EDIT: Dropping about a kilometer every 18 seconds.

Elliptical orbit... rising and falling...

 

[mtinner]

EDIT: Dropping about a kilometer every 18 seconds.

Elliptical orbit... rising and falling...

big deal about nothing. It will burn up way before it gets here.

 

[KittySlayer]

Some folks are asking if the military will shoot it out of the sky.

IF(?) the military has the ability to shoot a flying missile out of the sky I am not sure they want to show our enemies what our abilities really are. Kind of like when Little Kim was shooting his wad, just let it land impotently in the sea, no need to show him what we got so he could engineer around it.

 

[Tombs]

Some folks are asking if the military will shoot it out of the sky.

IF(?) the military has the ability to shoot a flying missile out of the sky I am not sure they want to show our enemies what our abilities really are. Kind of like when Little Kim was shooting his wad, just let it land impotently in the sea, no need to show him what we got so he could engineer around it.

Uh, this isn't exactly secret tech.

We've had anti-satellite missiles for the F15 for many many years. Shooting down something like this space junk would be child's play.

 

[Ark]

Uh, this isn't exactly secret tech.

We've had anti-satellite missiles for the F15 for many many years. Shooting down something like this space junk would be child's play.

I don't think our anti-satellite munitions are up to the task of destroying an entire core stage booster. IIRC they're kinetic-only and not able to really "destroy" much more than a small or medium satellite. Punching a hole through the empty fuel tank of a spent booster doesn't accomplish anything.