US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday that his nation has no plans to shoot down China’s misguided Long March 5B rocket, which is expected to hit the ground in the coming days but the place where it would do so is unknown. , reported the agency AFP.
“We have the ability to do a lot of things, but we don’t have a plan to take him down right now,” Austin said.
The agency notes that Pentagon experts expect the Long March 5B rocket, which fell out of orbit after separating from the Beijing space station, to hit the surface sometime between Saturday and Sunday.
However, until now it is difficult to predict when and where it will fall. “We hope that it falls in a place where it does not harm anyone. Hopefully in the ocean, or somewhere like that, “said Austin, who hinted at negligence on the part of China in allowing the body of the rocket to go out of orbit.
“I think this speaks to the fact that, for those of us who operate in the space domain, there are (security) requirements, or there should be a requirement to operate safely and thoughtfully,” he denounced.
In this context, he added that it is necessary “to make sure that we take these kinds of things into account when we plan and carry out operations in space.”
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