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Space Pioneer’s Tenryu 3 rocket separated from the launch pad during testing and crashed.
CNN
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A Chinese rocket launched by mistake crashed during a ground test on Sunday, China Space Pioneer said in a statement.
The crash occurred when the first stage of the Tianlong-3 rocket detached from the launch pad during testing due to a structural failure and landed in a hilly area in the central Chinese city of Gongyi.
“A structural failure in the connection between the rocket body and the test platform caused the first stage to separate from the launch pad,” Space Pioneer, also known as Beijing Tianbing Science and Technology, said in a statement.
“After launch, the onboard computer automatically shut down and the rocket fell into the mountains 1.5 kilometers away. [0.9 miles] Southwest of the test platform. The rocket body fell into the mountain and broke apart.
The company said no one was injured in the crash as residents at the site had been evacuated prior to the rocket test.
Space Pioneer is a leading commercial rocket company specializing in liquid-fuel rockets.
According to state media, the company successfully launched the Tianlong-2 rocket in April 2023, becoming China’s first commercial launch operator to successfully send a liquid-fueled rocket into space and into orbit.
The Tianlong-3 rocket that crashed on Sunday was a large liquid-fueled rocket built to help build China’s satellite internet network.
Space Pioneer said the rocket’s production performance will be comparable to SpaceX’s Falcon 9, adding that after the first successful flight, it will have the capacity to launch more than 30 times a year.
The accident occurred just days after China’s lunar lander Chang’e-6 returned to Earth from space and collected the first-ever samples from the far side of the moon.
The mission was a major milestone in China’s “eternal dream” of establishing the country as a space power, as expressed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and comes at a time when many countries, including the United States, are also stepping up their own lunar exploration programs.
