WENCHANG, CHINA — Remnants of the Chinese Long March 5B rocket that was launched last month have crashed back down to Earth and into the Indian Ocean at a speed of around 4.8 miles per second, according to Reuters.<br /><br />On Sunday, Chinese state media, citing the China Manned Space Engineering Office, said the rocket debris had mostly burned up upon reentry into Earth's atmosphere.<br /><br />However footage of the rocket's uncontrolled descent was recorded from Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia, according to The Guardian.<br /><br />Corroborating those images, the monitoring service Space-Track, which uses U.S. military data, said the rocket was recorded above Saudi Arabia before falling into the Indian Ocean, to the west of the Maldives.<br /><br />After days of speculation that the debris could hit land and endanger lives, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement on NASA's website: "It is clear that China is failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris."
