A video has spread on Chinese social networks showing the fall of the side boosters of the Long March 3B rocket. One of them fell dangerously close to a residential building.
The fallen boosters belonged to the Long March 3B rocket, which was launched on December 25 from the Xichang cosmodrome. The carrier successfully coped with its task by putting into orbit a pair of satellites of the BeiDou Navigation system.
At the same time, a pair of side boosters of the rocket fell dangerously close to populated areas in Guangxi province, as demonstrated by videos from social networks, one of which shows debris near the house. The video also shows a characteristic reddish cloud around the crash site of the booster. It is an asymmetric dimethylhydrazine used as a fuel, which is a toxic substance.
Such incidents are quite common in China. It is due to the fact that three of the four main Chinese spaceports are located in the interior of the country. This is a legacy of the Cold War — their location was chosen to complicate potential attacks on them by the United States or the USSR. They had to pay a price for this in the form of spent stages and side boosters of rockets launched from them falling to land in populated areas.
The saddest track record belongs to the Xichang cosmodrome. In 1996, a rocket launched from it fell on a nearby village, killing (according to official data) six people. Fortunately, such a tragedy did not happen again. However, the first stages of the carriers launched from Xichang still fall near populated areas.
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