THE world's television industry was in disarray last night after a Chinese space rocket blew up on liftoff, destroying the US$160 million (HK$1.23 billion) satellite it was carrying.
The explosion occurred early yesterday morning when a Chinese-designed Long March 2E rocket carrying a telecommunications satellite built by the US Hughes Aircraft exploded and crashed to Earth.
'About 45 seconds after a smooth and orderly liftoff there was an explosion, apparently during the separation of boosters,' a Western television executive said by telephone from China's Xichang space centre after witnessing the accident.
'There was a series of crackles and bangs. It was very spectacular. There was a big orange fireball in the sky. The main rocket dropped behind a mountain and exploded,' he said. 'The satellite crashed into another mountain.' The Apstar 2 satellite, run by the Hong Kong-based APT Satellite Company, was so high powered it could have broadcast satellite television into the homes of two-thirds of the world's population.
Instead, the hi-tech dream machine was blown into thousands of burning fragments and scattered over the hillsides of Sichuan.
The rocket blasted off at 6.38 am, and was reportedly airborne for less than a minute.
