A Chinese rocket crashed after being accidentally launched during a ground test on Sunday, its company Space Pioneer said in a statement.
The accident happened when the first stage of the Tianlong-3 rocket detached from its launch pad during a test, due to a structural failure. It landed in a mountainous area of the city of Gongyi in central China.
“Due to the structural failure of the connection between the rocket body and the test platform, the first stage rocket was separated from the launch pad,” said Space Pioneer, also known as Beijing Tianbing Technology.
“After liftoff, the onboard computer automatically shut down and the rocket crashed into the deep mountains 1.5 kilometers away. [0.9 miles] southwest of the test platform. The rocket body fell into the mountain and disintegrated.”
There were no injuries as a result of the accident, the company said, as people in the area were evacuated before the rocket test.
Space Pioneer, a leading company in the commercial rocket sector, specializes in liquid propellant rockets.
In April 2023, it successfully launched its Tianlong-2 rocket, making the company China’s first commercial launch operator to successfully send a liquid carrier rocket into space and into orbit, according to state media.
Tianlong-3, the rocket that crashed on Sunday, is a large liquid-carrying rocket. It was made to help build China’s satellite internet network.
The rocket’s product performance is comparable to SpaceX’s Falcon 9, according to Space Pioneer, adding that it will be able to launch the rocket more than 30 times a year after the rocket’s first successful flight.
The accident occurs just days after China Chang’e-6 lunar module returned to Earth from space, where he collected the first samples from the far side of the moon.
The mission was a fundamental milestone in China’s “eternal dream” – as articulated by Chinese leader Xi Jinping – to establish the country as a dominant space power and comes at a time when several countries, including the United States, are also stepping up their own lunar exploration programs.
CNN’s Simone McCarthy contributed to this report.
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