Shocking video captures a Chinese rocket crashing during a test. Watch the footage and explore the circumstances behind the crash.
The Chinese rocket, named Tianlong-3, made a brief aerial flight on Sunday before plummeting to Earth, as confirmed by the rocket’s manufacturer, Beijing Tianbing Technology, also referred to as Space Pioneer, was testing the first-stage rocket engines at the Comprehensive Test Centre in Gongyi City, in the central Chinese province of Henan. Spectators shared multiple videos of the unintentional launch on social media.
The video clips depict the rocket taking flight while flames shoot out of its tip. A short while later, the rocket’s engines suddenly cut off, and it appears to be still on fire as it begins to lose altitude and emits a black cloud of smoke. Eventually, it explodes violently, causing the surrounding region to tremble and shooting a large cloud of smoke and flames skyward.
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Space Pioneer claims that the launch was unplanned and that a “structural failure” in the area where the rocket hull and test bench joined caused the rocket to detach from the launch pad during the engine test. The rocket plummeted into the mountains approximately 1.5 km from the test site after an onboard computer automatically cut the engines off after liftoff, the company said in a statement on the WeChat social media platform in China.
There were no casualties from the incident, according to confirmation from the local authorities and the company. According to Space Pioneer, every employee in the vicinity was evacuated beforehand.
The Tianlong-3 is a carrier rocket with liquid fuel that is intended to launch satellites into orbit, according to Chinese media. It is said to have the strongest engines ever developed in China. It is anticipated to have the capacity to launch a payload of 14 tonnes into Sun-synchronous orbit or 17 tonnes into low Earth orbit. It has been likened to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 by Chinese media.
