CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — A Chinese rocket is set to crash on Saturday, July 30, but is there a chance that it could land in northern West Virginia?
Morgantown native, scientist and host of Netflix show “Emily’s Wonder Lab,” Emily Calandrelli, has been posting updates on her social media accounts since July 23, the day before the rocket was first launched. Her updates are based on predictions by The Aerospace Corporation.
According to Aerospace, the rocket body was first launched from the Wenchange Space Launch Site in China at 6:22 Coordinated Universal Time (12:22 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) on July 24.
As the estimated crash time gets closer, scientists have been able to narrow down where the rocket body might land. As of Friday at noon, they had it narrowed down to a crash time window of 12 hours and eight possible routes across the world. Three of those routes passed over the United States, and one passed over West Virginia. Counties near the possible crash route included Tyler, Wetzel, Doddridge, Harrison, Marion, Preston, Tucker, Taylor, Grant and Hardy counties.
As of an update at 12:35 p.m. (EDT) on Friday, the route that went over West Virginia had been eliminated from possible crash sites. There is still a chance that the rocket body will land somewhere in the U.S., but not in West Virginia. As of Friday at 12:35, the estimated landing time for the rocket was 2:05 p.m. (EDT).
For the latest updates on the rocket’s reentry and landing, check The Aerospace Corporation website, which is being updated regularly.
