A spectacular accident.
During testing on Sunday, June 30, the first stage of the Chinese rocket Tianlong-3, designed by the company Space Pioneer, detached from its launch pad and took off by mistake. The vehicle then crashed in a mountainous area of Gongyi, in central China. Fortunately, no injuries were reported, but the videos of the incident widely shared on social networks are no less impressive.
Chinese company Space Pioneer’s Tianlong-3 Y1 first stage rocket broke off of its static fire test stand and launched into the air before crashing down onto the land pic.twitter.com/5bXukt9OAS
— Truthful\ud83d\udef0\ufe0f (@Truthful_ast) https://twitter.com/Truthful_ast/status/1807345375092617216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In these images, it is possible to see the first stage of the rocket rising into the sky, before losing power and falling heavily. The device then exploded in the hills, between trees. The crash would have caused a fire on the ground, which was quickly brought under control according to the local ministry in charge of emergency management cited by CNN.
Structural problem in the attachment between the rocket and the ramp
In a press release relayed by The GuardianSpace Pioneer blamed a structural problem in the attachment between the rocket and the ramp. “After takeoff, the onboard computer automatically shut down, and the rocket fell into the mountains 1.5 km southwest of the test platform,” said the Chinese space company.
Partially reusable, the Tianlong-3 rocket seeks to compare itself to the Falcon 9 from Elon Musk’s company SpaceX.
