Hong Kong, suspected debris from a Chinese rocket was seen falling on a village in southwestern China on Saturday, as captured in dramatic videos circulating on Chinese social media and shared with CNN by a local witness.
The incident unfolded shortly after a Long March 2C carrier rocket lifted off at 3 p.m. local time on Saturday (3 a.m. ET) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province. This launch was intended to put into orbit the Space Variable Objects Monitor, a collaborative satellite project between China and France designed to study gamma-ray bursts.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has made it a priority to raise China's status as a leading space power, increasing the frequency of missions to improve China's competitiveness against major global players such as the United States, CNN reported. The Corporation of China Aerospace Science and Technology (CASC), the state contractor responsible for developing the Long March 2C rocket, declared Saturday's launch a "complete success."
CNN contacted both the CASC and the State Council Information Office, which handles press inquiries for the Chinese government and its space agency, for comment on the incident.
Videos posted on Kuaishou, a Chinese short video platform, showed a cylindrical piece of debris descending on a rural village and crashing near a hill with yellow smoke billowing from one end. CNN analysis geolocated the images to the village of Xianqiao in Guizhou province, which borders Sichuan to the southeast, where the launch site is located. The video originated from an IP address in Guizhou and showed multiple angles of the falling debris, including villagers, including children, fleeing as they watched the orange trail in the sky, some covering their ears in anticipation of the crash.
By Monday afternoon, several videos had been removed from Chinese social media platforms.
Witness accounts shared on social media described hearing a loud explosion upon impact, and one witness told CNN that he saw the rocket fall with his own eyes. They described experiencing a pungent smell and hearing the sound of the explosion afterwards. A government notice, later removed but reposted by a local villager after the launch, described plans for a scheduled "rocket debris recovery mission" starting at 2:45 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. local time on Saturday in Xinba City, near Xianqiao Village. Residents were advised to leave their homes and other structures an hour before launch and move to open areas to watch the sky. The advisory warned against approaching the debris to avoid possible damage from toxic gases and explosions.
According to the notice, residents were strictly prohibited from photographing the debris or spreading related videos online.
Local authorities reported that there were no immediate injuries as a result of the incident. Markus Schiller, a rocket expert and senior research associate at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, identified the debris as likely the booster for the first stage of the Long March rocket. 2 C. He noted the rocket's use of a highly toxic liquid propellant composed of nitrogen tetroxide and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH), which produces distinctive orange smoke trails and poses significant health risks due to its toxicity and carcinogenic nature.
"This combination always creates these traces of orange smoke. It is extremely toxic and carcinogenic," Schiller said. "Every living being that inhales this substance will have difficulties in the near future," he added.
Schiller emphasized that these types of incidents are not uncommon in China due to the geographic location of its launch sites. The rockets are typically launched eastward to take advantage of the Earth's rotation for additional boost, and often pass over villages in the booster's path during the initial stages of flight. China operates three main inland launch sites: Xichang in the southwest, Jiuquan in the Gobi Desert to the northwest and Taiyuan in the north, all established during the Cold War for security reasons, away from coastal areas.
In 2016, China opened its fourth launch site in Wenchang on Hainan Island, the country's southernmost province, reflecting its continued expansion and development in space exploration capabilities.
In contrast, NASA and the European Space Agency predominantly launch from coastal locations aimed toward the open sea, reducing the risk of populated areas being affected by falling debris. Western space agencies have largely eliminated the use of highly toxic liquid propellants in favor of safer alternatives for civilian space programs, a move that China and Russia have yet to emulate.
Multistage rockets, such as the Long March series, shed debris during the initial stages shortly after launch, and trajectories are typically predicted and managed before liftoff.
Before each launch, China's civil aviation authority issues advisories to pilots, known as NOTAMs, marking "temporary danger areas" where rocket debris may descend. Cases of rocket debris hitting villages in China, including an incident in December 2023 in which rocket debris damaged two houses in the southern province of Hunan. In 2002, fragments from a satellite launch injured a boy in Shaanxi province when they fell on his village.
"I hope we see something like this for quite some time, for many years," Schiller said.
The international space community has previously criticized China for its handling of debris from runaway rocket boosters re-entering Earth's atmosphere. In 2021, NASA condemned China for failing to meet responsible standards after debris from A Long March 5B rocket crashed uncontrollably into the Indian Ocean west of the Maldives after re-entry, CNN reported.
The incident unfolded shortly after a Long March 2C carrier rocket lifted off at 3 p.m. local time on Saturday (3 a.m. ET) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province. This launch was intended to put into orbit the Space Variable Objects Monitor, a collaborative satellite project between China and France designed to study gamma-ray bursts.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has made it a priority to raise China's status as a leading space power, increasing the frequency of missions to improve China's competitiveness against major global players such as the United States, CNN reported. The Corporation of China Aerospace Science and Technology (CASC), the state contractor responsible for developing the Long March 2C rocket, declared Saturday's launch a "complete success."
CNN contacted both the CASC and the State Council Information Office, which handles press inquiries for the Chinese government and its space agency, for comment on the incident.
Videos posted on Kuaishou, a Chinese short video platform, showed a cylindrical piece of debris descending on a rural village and crashing near a hill with yellow smoke billowing from one end. CNN analysis geolocated the images to the village of Xianqiao in Guizhou province, which borders Sichuan to the southeast, where the launch site is located. The video originated from an IP address in Guizhou and showed multiple angles of the falling debris, including villagers, including children, fleeing as they watched the orange trail in the sky, some covering their ears in anticipation of the crash.
By Monday afternoon, several videos had been removed from Chinese social media platforms.
Witness accounts shared on social media described hearing a loud explosion upon impact, and one witness told CNN that he saw the rocket fall with his own eyes. They described experiencing a pungent smell and hearing the sound of the explosion afterwards. A government notice, later removed but reposted by a local villager after the launch, described plans for a scheduled "rocket debris recovery mission" starting at 2:45 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. local time on Saturday in Xinba City, near Xianqiao Village. Residents were advised to leave their homes and other structures an hour before launch and move to open areas to watch the sky. The advisory warned against approaching the debris to avoid possible damage from toxic gases and explosions.
According to the notice, residents were strictly prohibited from photographing the debris or spreading related videos online.
Local authorities reported that there were no immediate injuries as a result of the incident. Markus Schiller, a rocket expert and senior research associate at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, identified the debris as likely the booster for the first stage of the Long March rocket. 2 C. He noted the rocket's use of a highly toxic liquid propellant composed of nitrogen tetroxide and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH), which produces distinctive orange smoke trails and poses significant health risks due to its toxicity and carcinogenic nature.
"This combination always creates these traces of orange smoke. It is extremely toxic and carcinogenic," Schiller said. "Every living being that inhales this substance will have difficulties in the near future," he added.
Schiller emphasized that these types of incidents are not uncommon in China due to the geographic location of its launch sites. The rockets are typically launched eastward to take advantage of the Earth's rotation for additional boost, and often pass over villages in the booster's path during the initial stages of flight. China operates three main inland launch sites: Xichang in the southwest, Jiuquan in the Gobi Desert to the northwest and Taiyuan in the north, all established during the Cold War for security reasons, away from coastal areas.
In 2016, China opened its fourth launch site in Wenchang on Hainan Island, the country's southernmost province, reflecting its continued expansion and development in space exploration capabilities.
In contrast, NASA and the European Space Agency predominantly launch from coastal locations aimed toward the open sea, reducing the risk of populated areas being affected by falling debris. Western space agencies have largely eliminated the use of highly toxic liquid propellants in favor of safer alternatives for civilian space programs, a move that China and Russia have yet to emulate.
Multistage rockets, such as the Long March series, shed debris during the initial stages shortly after launch, and trajectories are typically predicted and managed before liftoff.
Before each launch, China's civil aviation authority issues advisories to pilots, known as NOTAMs, marking "temporary danger areas" where rocket debris may descend. Cases of rocket debris hitting villages in China, including an incident in December 2023 in which rocket debris damaged two houses in the southern province of Hunan. In 2002, fragments from a satellite launch injured a boy in Shaanxi province when they fell on his village.
"I hope we see something like this for quite some time, for many years," Schiller said.
The international space community has previously criticized China for its handling of debris from runaway rocket boosters re-entering Earth's atmosphere. In 2021, NASA condemned China for failing to meet responsible standards after debris from A Long March 5B rocket crashed uncontrollably into the Indian Ocean west of the Maldives after re-entry, CNN reported.
