The head of U.S. Space Command hopes the next time China launches a rocket that leaves behind long-lived space debris, Beijing will give Washington a heads-up, rather than leaving the U.S. to discover the orbital mess on its own.
A Chinese rocket carrying the first satellites of a communications constellation meant to rival Starlink broke up in low-Earth orbit, U.S. Space Command confirmed—creating hundreds of pieces of debris and continuing a series of worrying incidents, experts said.