[tostonescon]

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-022-01718-8

>In 2020, over 60% of launches to low Earth orbit resulted in a rocket body being abandoned in orbit

>In the USA, the Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices (ODMSPs) apply to all launches and require that the risk of a casualty from a reentering rocket body is below a 1-in-10,000 threshold4. However, the US Air Force waived the ODMSP requirements for 37 of the 66 launches conducted for it between 2011 and 2018, on the basis that it would be too expensive to replace non-compliant rockets with compliant ones

I do think China's space program is more irresponsible than USA/EU launches based on some of the debris fall, but blaming uncontrolled re-entry seems like the wrong thing here

[mlyle]

It's that it's uncontrolled re-entry of a giant first stage. No one does anything like that except China.