Man claims rocket crashed through the roof of his house

Debris from the rocket carrying China's first moon rover plummeted to earth in a village more than 620 miles (1,000 km) from the launch site, according to a report.People living near the wreckage claimed the metallic debris crashed into two homes and it is not the first time the area has been hit by rocket parts.The incident, which was reported on Monday, is believed to have occurred in Suining County in the central province of Hunan, around nine minutes after the launch of the Chang'e-3 mission.The area has been hit by space wreckage nearly 20 times, the Xiaoxiang Morning Post said.One local resident told the newspaper: ‘Three of the roof beams have crashed down on our house, and a big hole has been punched into our barn.Another said: ‘The huge sound scared the living daylights out of me.’A picture shows a somewhat baffled-looking villager peering at the curved shape of what appears to be a rocket nose-cone, below a gaping hole in his roof.Authorities gave the residents 10,800 yuan (£1,081) and 5,200 yuan (£521) in compensation, according to the newspaper, which reported that no one was injured.A Long March-3B carrier rocket, China's most powerful rocket, blasted off at around 1:30 am Monday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in south western China.The lunar rover mission known as 'Jade Rabbit' is part of China's ambitious space programme, which aims to establish a permanent space station by 2020 and eventually send a human to the moon.But debris from China's numerous space launches has frequently found its way to Suining county, which has been hit by rocket parts nearly 20 times since the early 1990s, according to the newspaper.Last May wreckage from a rocket sent up by the Xichang Launch Centre crashed into homes and hit a high-voltage wire in the area, according to the Shanghai Daily News. In October 2011 a steel frame weighing more than 250 kilograms, or 550 pounds, landed in a field after another satellite launch and other wreckage pierced a house roof.(dailymail.co.uk)ANN.Az