US is not trying to shoot down the Chinese 5B rocket

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday that the United State military has no attempts to destroy a Chinese 5B rocket that is currently spiraling towards Earth.

We have a lot of force,” Austin told reporters, “but we don’t have a plan to shoot it down right now.

The body of the Long March Chinese 5B rocket, which dropped out of orbit after breaking from Beijing’s space station, is expected to crash to the ground on Saturday or Sunday, according to Pentagon experts.

However, predicting when and where it will land is still difficult. We’re hoping it lands in a safe location where no one will be harmed. Hopefully by the sea or something similar, Austin remarked.

He said the Chinese were careless in allowing the rocket’s body to drop out of orbit.

Austin said. I believe this represents the fact that those of us who work in the space domain have a duty, or should have a responsibility, to operate in a safe and careful manner.

He believes it is important to ensure that we take those kinds of things into account when we prepare and execute operations in space.