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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

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The rocket crashes in hills outside Gongyi in Henan province on Sunday afternoon. Photo: Weibo
Ling Xinin Ohio
The commercial operator of a powerful rocket that crashed and exploded in flames during a test on the outskirts of a central Chinese city on Sunday said the failure was the result of a “structural” problem.
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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.

The crash of the kerosene-liquid oxygen-propelled rocket ignited a huge explosion.
The rocket crashed on the ground on its side. Photo: Weibo
The rocket crashed on the ground on its side. Photo: Weibo

“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.

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