Flights grounded in Spain as out-of-control Chinese rocket plummets back to Earth

Speaking at the briefing where the impending rocket crash was discussed, he said that  “for those who’ve been tracking the previous versions of this: Here we go again”, adding that  “88 percent of the world’s population is at risk, and so 7 billion people are at risk” of the rocket falling on them.

But he noted: “The answer is that you’ve got far better odds of winning the lottery tonight than you are getting hit by this object. The risk to an individual is six per 10 trillion. That’s a really small number.” 

This comes after three previous Chinese launches also sent bits of space debris crashing back to Earth, with rocket parts landing in villages in the Ivory Coast, the Indian Ocean, and near villages in Borneo.

Luckily, no one was injured or killed, but a fourth repeated incident reignited concerns which Chinese state media poured cold water over, claiming that the rocket would not even make it back to Earth. 

China’s Long-March 5B launched from Hainan Island in southern China carrying a 59 feet-long, 23-ton module, called Mengtian, which docked with the Tiangong space station 13 hours after launch.

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1692082/china-rocket-impact-zone-Long-March-5B-Barcelona-Ibiza-flights-grounded-airspace