Long March 2F booster that launched astronauts lands on public road in China
Click for full image.
One of the four strap-on boosters used to launch three astronauts to China’s new space station on June 16th ended up landing on a public road in China.
The photo to the right, uploaded at this twitter feed, shows the booster. The parachute cords at its top explain why it is so relatively undamaged. The Chinese are apparently experimenting with parachutes to slow and maybe even control its descent. They might even be planning to catch the stage before it hits the ground, using a plane or helicopter, as both ULA and Rocket Lab hope to do with their Vulcan and Electron rockets.
Of course, we do not know this, as the Chinese tell us nothing.
Note that the hypergolic fuels, such as the hydrazine used in this booster, are extremely toxic. The person who took this picture is in very great danger, even if he or she does not know it.
Potential routes of hydrazine exposure include dermal, ocular, inhalation and ingestion.
Hydrazine exposure can cause skin irritation/contact dermatitis and burning, irritation to the eyes/nose/throat, nausea/vomiting, shortness of breath, pulmonary edema, headache, dizziness, central nervous system depression, lethargy, temporary blindness, seizures and coma. Exposure can also cause organ damage to the liver, kidneys and central nervous system. Hydrazine is documented as a strong skin sensitizer with potential for cross-sensitization to hydrazine derivatives following initial exposure.
Not that the Chinese government really cares. They have been dumping these boosters on their own people for decades, and only recently have apparently begun to look into ways of controlling their descent.
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Click for full image.
One of the four strap-on boosters used to launch three astronauts to China’s new space station on June 16th ended up landing on a public road in China.
The photo to the right, uploaded at this twitter feed, shows the booster. The parachute cords at its top explain why it is so relatively undamaged. The Chinese are apparently experimenting with parachutes to slow and maybe even control its descent. They might even be planning to catch the stage before it hits the ground, using a plane or helicopter, as both ULA and Rocket Lab hope to do with their Vulcan and Electron rockets.
Of course, we do not know this, as the Chinese tell us nothing.
Note that the hypergolic fuels, such as the hydrazine used in this booster, are extremely toxic. The person who took this picture is in very great danger, even if he or she does not know it.
Potential routes of hydrazine exposure include dermal, ocular, inhalation and ingestion.
Hydrazine exposure can cause skin irritation/contact dermatitis and burning, irritation to the eyes/nose/throat, nausea/vomiting, shortness of breath, pulmonary edema, headache, dizziness, central nervous system depression, lethargy, temporary blindness, seizures and coma. Exposure can also cause organ damage to the liver, kidneys and central nervous system. Hydrazine is documented as a strong skin sensitizer with potential for cross-sensitization to hydrazine derivatives following initial exposure.
Not that the Chinese government really cares. They have been dumping these boosters on their own people for decades, and only recently have apparently begun to look into ways of controlling their descent.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
That’s a picture of a Chinese Landing Pad for their boosters. C’mon Man., give them a break, they have not yet been able to steal that SpaceX technology. Darn that Musk and his cyber hacking defense team!
wash it down and auction it off to the world’s various museums.
it does take a certain _gall_ to operate like this. wow. no wonder they don’t do popular elections.
91 million members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), enslave
1.444 Billion, Chinese peasants.
Only 6.3% of the population.
“Physical Removal of the CCP”
https://youtu.be/S-V6MZlyCqE
2:22
The kid in me would think it kinda cool. If it weren’t toxic, I’d put it on wheels. Here-we are sue happy. There? A dirt farmer might swell with pride to see this futurist diversion from the mundane.
I’m well aware of the consequences here, but my first reaction was LOL. Not the usual on your way to work.
not sure if this is applicable, main engines vs boosters, sometimes , always. Manley say China uses both types of fuel. Either way, your points in the post are valid. https://twitter.com/DJSnM/status/1405915092072366086
Early US launch vehicles like Vanguard used Red Fuming Nitric Acid (RFNA) and Unsymmetrical Dimethyl Hydrazine (UDMH) as hypergolic fuel and oxidizer in the second stage. Is hydrazine toxic? You be the judge
https://i.redd.it/i1rr24pq6b271.jpg
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2009/04/Preparation_for_hydrazine_fuelling
and RFNA is just as bad
https://athrillaweek.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/rfna.jpg
Don’t think I’d liking working in the pit crew at the Cape back then….
To be fair, both of these apply to America, too:
it does take a certain _gall_ to operate like this.
You mean like blowing up entire islands with atomic bombs? Granted that they were isolated islands (that we surrounded with ships), but still.
A dirt farmer might swell with pride to see this futurist diversion from the mundane.
You mean like finding it in your field in the 1950s? I’d bet many American farmers, with visions of Tom Swift and his Atomic Airplane or Tom Corbett – Space Cadet, would have that reaction.
That doesn’t mean this is not irresponsible, but we do need to beware of mounting high horses.
We can mount our high horse any time we want. We are American. And free.
The point of the article though was that China does not care about it own people very much or is just too stupid to learn from out 70 year old mistakes.
Either way they are idiots and we have learned.
As for the parachute, they might be trying to bring them down slow enough to keep them from rupturing the fuel tanks.
A cheap way to keep their people safe.
It would be better to launch from the coast like we do but they are afraid someone might see their secret stuff if they used the coast,
Some speculation on China’s booster landing mitigation efforts.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/aerospace/space-flight/chinas-rocket-debris-problem
Gary: Not much there that hasn’t been covered before here on BtB.