BREAKING: Chinese Long March 6A rocket breaks apart in orbit, creating debris, shock and panic

PANIC: Images and data of Chinese Long March-6A rocket emerge showing the rocket that launched Starlink rival G60 constellation, or Thousand Sails Constellation (千帆星座), broke up in space after deploying satellites, creating 50 pieces of debris in 800 km orbit. More than 50 pieces of space debris were spotted in the wake of a Chinese rocket launch, which could pose a risk to satellites in low Earth orbit. China launched its first batch of broadband satellites on Tuesday, August 6 with the aim of building a megaconstellation similar to SpaceX’s Starlink. A Long March 6A rocket carried the 18 satellites to orbit, launching from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern China’s Shanxi Province. The rocket deployed the satellites in a polar orbit at an altitude of around 500 miles (800 kilometers) above Earth’s surface. However, after deploying the satellites, the rocket’s upper stage appears to have broken apart. Space-tracking firm Slingshot Aerospace recorded more than 50 fragments of debris within the vicinity of the satellites following their deployment, forming a trail of space junk that “pose a significant hazard” to satellite constellations at the same altitude, the firm wrote. #chinaspace #longmarch6a #chinanews