--- description: People saw the meteor-like object appear Wednesday night over parts of western U.S.. title: Watch Debris from a Chinese Rocket Shoot Across the Sky image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch Debris from a Chinese Rocket Shoot Across the Night Sky  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 28, 2016 12:20 PM CUT  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 28, 2016 12:20 PM CUT Many across the western U.S. who glanced up Wednesday night saw fiery streaks [shoot across the sky](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-streak-light-20160727-snap-story.html "undefined"), and experts said it was remnants from a rocket China launched in June. The debris [passed over](https://spaceflightnow.com/2016/07/28/re-entering-chinese-rocket-stage-streaks-across-western-u-s/ "undefined") parts of California, Colorado, Nevada, Utah and Idaho, and prompted a number of social media posts of people asking about the meteor-like occurrence. Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center, told the Los Angeles _Times_ that the debris was part of the Long March 7 Rocket that China launched on June 25. > [](https://twitter.com/mholt6/status/758523437979570177) McDowell said the rocket reentered over Utah around 9:40 p.m., and that the main body will likely have melted so that only a few small pieces of metal would reach the ground. The rocket itself marked a new stage in China’s rocketry programs, McDowell said. > [](https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/758547255091720192) > [](https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/758552471409192962) \[[_LA Times_](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-streak-light-20160727-snap-story.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4428132/debris-chinese-rocket/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4428132/debris-chinese-rocket/"},"headline":"Watch Debris from a Chinese Rocket Shoot Across the Night Sky","datePublished":"2016-07-28T12:20:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:36:57.489Z","description":"People saw the meteor-like object appear Wednesday night over parts of western U.S.","url":"https://time.com/4428132/debris-chinese-rocket/","keywords":["China"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4428132/debris-chinese-rocket/","name":"Watch Debris from a Chinese Rocket Shoot Across the Night Sky"}}]}] ```