A Chinese rocket breaks apart dangerously close to the Starlink constellation

Article excerpt

The upper stage of a Chinese Zhuque-2E rocket broke apart in low Earth orbit on June 9, scattering debris through one of space's busiest neighborhoods, home to the International Space Station and a significant chunk of SpaceX's Starlink constellation. The fragmentation happened shortly after the rocket deployed two direct-to-cell communication satellites, possibly during or around the time a planned disposal burn was scheduled. The incident adds to mounting concerns about space debris in an increasingly crowded orbital region where thousands of active satellites operate alongside aging rocket stages and defunct spacecraft.