Another Out-of-Control Rocket Just Hit Earth

The rocket was meant to carry a dummy payload into high orbit, but its engine failed to restart for a second engine burn that would have sent it from low Earth orbit to a much higher geostationary perch (where its orbit would remain at a fixed point above Earth).

🚀 The big picture: This isn't the first time an out-of-control spacecraft has threatened the world over the past year, but their risk to humans is pretty minimal. Much of the rockets burn up upon re-entry, though some parts do survive and hit Earth.

• And we've all seen a globe – the Earth is more water than land, which improves our odds. Plus, the world is sparsely populated if you're looking at landmass vs. where people actually live. 👇

A bigger issue, according to those in the know, is the continued pileup of space junk. But OG DONUT readers knew that already.

+Elsewhere in space news: The James Webb Telescope is nailing its deployment sequence. Live updates on the mission.

• Overheard: "This is unbelievable. We are now at a point where we're about 600,000 miles from Earth, and we actually have a telescope," said Bill Ochs, the James Webb Space Telescope project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, on a livestream.

👏👏👏