Wild Video Shows Satellite Debris Raining Down in Beijing

Debris from a Chinese satellite launched last week came raining down from the sky, causing chaos on the ground in Beijing. On Christmas, the China National Space Administration launched two satellites into orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan. The satellites, for use by China’s Beidou Navigation Satellite System, were carried into space via the Long March 3B rocket. Though the satellites were successfully deposited into medium Earth orbit, several of the rocket’s side boosters detached and landed in Guangxi, South China.

Footage widely circulated on social media shows the rocket plummeting from the sky and landing in a forested piece of land followed by a massive explosion.

Space journalist Andrew Jones wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that although “it’s been a while … this kind of falling booster action was a feature of the Long March 3B launches of Beidou satellites from Xichang.”

Heads up: it's been a while, but this kind of falling booster action was a feature of the Long March 3B launches of Beidou satellites from Xichang. https://t.co/rRM0mQ2g0p https://t.co/UnFXaoGgC4 pic.twitter.com/7XkRCTFLaW

— Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) December 26, 2023

A separate video shows another, much closer, angle of the explosion. It then cuts to show the area of devastation, which is mere feet from a residential home. People can be seen wandering around through piles of wreckage, though they appear unharmed. It’s unclear if the falling rockets injured any civilians or destroyed any private property.

In 2019, a falling engine from a Long March 3B destroyed a home. Even if the engines don’t land in a populated area, they still release highly toxic chemicals into the surrounding neighborhoods.

"The first stage and four side boosters of the Long March 3B use the hypergolic propellant combination of hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide. Both the nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer and UDMH fuel present serious health risks," SpaceNews reported.

The mishap caused many on social media to openly speculate why China is still using this launch method when it proposes such a safety risk. “How is this launch site still being used at this point?” asked X-user @totenchan20.

“Unethical and blatant disrespect of human health,” wrote @vyspace93.

These were the 64th and 65th rockets launched from China in 2023. The country launched 67 satellites last year, topping its previous record of 64 set in 2022.