Debris From Chinese Rocket Could Possibly Fall in Your Backyard

Heads up this weekend!

A portion of a rocket from China that’s traveling 18,000 miles per hour may possibly fall back to earth this weekend. Here's the catch - nobody knows exactly where it will land. Perhaps it will fall your backyard right here in Idaho!

"U.S. Space Command is aware of and tracking the location of the Chinese Long March 5B in space, but its exact entry point into the Earth’s atmosphere cannot be pinpointed until within hours of its reentry, which is expected around May 8,” Space Command said in a statement.

Rest assured though, scientist aren't too concerned about this being a problem to anyone. Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told CNN that the chances of the rocket hitting anyone are very slim, sharing that there are “bigger things” to worry about.

“I don’t think people should take precautions,” he said. “The risk that there will be some damage or that it would hit someone is pretty small — not negligible, it could happen — but the risk that it will hit you is incredibly tiny. And so I would not lose one second of sleep over this on a personal threat basis,” he said.

The debris is actually most likely to land somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The odds are in favor of this theory considering planet Earth is 71% covered in water. “If you want to bet on where on Earth something’s going to land, you bet on the Pacific, because the Pacific is most of the Earth. It’s that simple,” McDowell explained.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is reportedly aware of the rocket’s potential arrival on U.S. soil— and anywhere, really— and is receiving updates, The Hill reports.