UPI Jan. 6 (UPI) — The upper stage of a failed Russian Angara A5 rocket plummeted uncontrolled to Earth, crashing into open sea near French Polynesia.
The U.S. 18th Space Control Squadron confirmed the 4 p.m. Wednesday re-entry
The Persei upper stage was part of a heavy-lift rocket. The debris weighed an estimated 3.5 tons. Astronomer Jonathon McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said most of it likely burned up in Earth’s atmosphere before it hit the water.
The Russian rocket was launched Dec. 27. It was the third test flight, but that upper stage failed, causing the uncontrolled re-entry…
