This is part of the second stage
The remains of the second stage of the CZ-2F/G launch vehicle that recently carried the Shenzhou 17 spacecraft to the Chinese orbital station burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere on Friday. According to the Office of the People’s Space Flight Program of the People’s Republic of China, a few pieces of debris fell into the Pacific Ocean.
A statement published on the department’s WeChat page clarifies that the second stage of the CZ-2F/G entered the atmosphere at 11:18 Beijing time (06:18 Moscow time). The coordinates of the fall are 158.4 degrees east longitude and 31.3 degrees south latitude. It is approximately 460 km east of Australia.
The remains of a Chinese CZ-2F/G missile fell near Australia
The CZ-2F/G rocket was launched on October 26 at 11:14 Beijing time (06:14 Moscow time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northern China. She delivered Shenzhou-17 into orbit with three astronauts on board. The crew will stay at the station for six months, conducting scientific experiments and testing various payloads there.
The Chinese station is located at an altitude of approximately 400 km and will operate for more than 10 years. It is designed for three people (up to six for a short time when rotating crews). The mass of the complex in the shape of the letter T (in the foreseeable future it is planned to expand to a cruciform shape), which has three docking nodes and a gateway for access to space, is 66 tons, the volume of the compartments reaches 110 cubic meters. m. In 2022, the orbital facility began operating normally and became available for international projects.
