After launching a new satellite on Sept. 7, a Chinese Long March 4B rocket’s first stage was captured on its return to earth, narrowly missing a school in the process. The payload is said to have been the Gaofen 11, a so-called “Earth observation” satellite capable of capturing high-resolution images less than 3 feet across.
The Long March 4B’s propellant is hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, which is the orange cloud seen in the amateur footage. China has three “in land” launch sites and reportedly allows spent boosters to come down on land, warning local inhabitants should evacuation become necessary.
No doubt the US attempted to sabotage the rocket to kill the poor children. Only question is how long it takes them to figure it out by interviewing witnesses on television.
A classic case of, I shot an arrow into the air. It came down I know not where.
I wonder if anyone has cautioned the school about how dangerous and toxic hydrazine is and how unstable nitrogen tetroxide is. Any souvenir hunters could get a nasty surprise. Also, I wonder what all that debris is that came off the upper stages of the rocket shortly after launch. It looked like it was coming apart.
It’s insulation, used to keep the propellants at their intended very low temperature prior to launch. Th insulation is supposed to fall away like that.
Didn’t their spies find out how Elon backs his Falcon 9’s Stage I back down onto the same spot it took off from ??
The F-16 (“the electric jet”) uses hydrazine to power its EPU — Emergency Power Unit. That stuff looks just like water. In the beginning — especially out in the Mojave desert — we were taught that if we saw what looked like water under the airplane, hold your nose, run like hell away from it and call the guys in rubber suits.
Did it have any drywall or dog food onboard?…because then it would be really dangerous.