A Chinese commercial rocket accidentally launched during a ground test on Sunday, rising into the air before crashing into a nearby mountain and bursting into flames, the private company that owns the rocket said. Said.
Space Pioneer, the owner of the Tianlong-3 rocket, said in a statement that a “structural failure” during a propulsion system test caused it to separate from the test platform and launch from the launch pad. The accident happened at 3:43 pm local time on Sunday at a testing facility in Gongyi city, central China’s Henan province, the statement said.
The onboard computer automatically shut down after liftoff and the rocket fell into a hilly area about a mile from the test site, according to the statement. No one was injured, the statement said, adding that the crash site was far from residential areas and that the company was working with local authorities to evacuate nearby residents before the test.
Videos posted by Chinese media outlets and on social media showed the rocket rising, then losing power, plummeting and exploding on a nearby hill.
According to Space Pioneer, Tianlong 3 is the most powerful carrier rocket currently under development in China. The company said the rocket is comparable to SpaceX’s Falcon 9, its first orbital-class reusable rocket. Designed to transport crew and cargo into Earth’s orbit, Falcon 9 became the first commercial rocket to launch astronauts into orbit in 2020.
