China’s Space Pioneer blames massive rocket-test crash on structural failure
- Company says kerosene-liquid oxygen-propelled rocket launched unexpectedly and crashed in hills, with no casualties
Space Pioneer, also known as Beijing Tianbing Technology, said the Tianlong-3 rocket unexpectedly launched during a static-fire test at a facility in Gongyi county in Henan province.
The rocket’s nine engines were fired at 3.34pm before the rocket – the most powerful in the country – lifted off because of a “structural failure at the connection between the rocket body and the test platform”, the company said.
Residents in flats in the county-level city of Gongyi posted footage online showing the rocket climbing into the sky, leaving a trail of thick smoke before falling back to the ground on its side.
“After lift-off, the computer on board the rocket automatically shut down, and the rocket fell into hills 1½km southwest of the test platform and disintegrated,” Space Pioneer said on WeChat.