US military has ‘no plan’ to shoot down debris from falling Chinese rocket

Defense secretary is hopeful rocket will crash in the ocean; Aerospace Corp said it expects debris to hit the Pacific near the equator

The US military has no plan to shoot down the remnants of a large Chinese rocket expected to plunge back through the atmosphere this weekend, the defense secretary said on Thursday.

Speaking with reporters, the US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, said the hope was the rocket would land in the ocean and that the latest estimate was that it would come down between Saturday and Sunday.