A catastrophic failure occurred during a static fire test of China's Tianlong-3 medium-lift orbital launch vehicle, developed by the private aerospace manufacturer Space Pioneer. The test, which took place on Sunday, June 30, 2024, resulted in the rocket emitting black smoke before crashing and exploding in Gongyi city, Henan Province. Videos posted by residents captured the incident, showing the rocket falling into a mountain and catching fire. The city's emergency management bureau confirmed the test flight. Space Pioneer confirmed the crash, and no casualties have been reported.
❗️China Crisis For Space Program? Tianlong-3 Crashes Back To Earth The test fire of the rocket's 1st stage ended in disaster as it failed explosively on Sunday. https://t.co/VF0BBFQzeR
The crash and explosion of the Chinese carrier rocket Tianlong-3 were captured on video. The Chinese carrier rocket Tianlong-3 crashed during a test launch. The launch was conducted by the private Chinese company Space Pioneer. No casualties have been reported so far. The cause… https://t.co/mVDwQtgv0y
Space Pioneer says part of rocket crashed in central China during test https://t.co/TWylXiopxk https://t.co/k0tbuQgTDh
Space Pioneer says part of rocket crashed in central China during test https://t.co/LVaqOInaGt https://t.co/urNkXsytmC
Videos posted by several residents of Gongyi city in Central China’s Henan Province showed a rocket emitting black smoke during its flight before falling into the mountain and catching fire. The city's emergency management bureau said that it was a test flight and it has… https://t.co/U7Totwf05Z
Watch: A #Chinese test launch of a Tianlong-3 space rocket had a catastrophic failure, with the launch vehicle emitting black smoke during the flight and then falling to the ground with a big explosion. Tianlong-3 is a medium-lift orbital launch vehicle developed by the Chinese… https://t.co/x7Ff4sroQI
This is crazy how close they were at the RUD explosion @SpaceX https://t.co/Hx91zZkALq
Big fail: "Static" fire test of Chinese Tianlong-3 medium-lift orbital launch vehicle gone horribly wrong today. The vehicle has been under development by the Chinese private aerospace manufacturer Space Pioneer. https://t.co/tuUzWvzNHM
One of the most spectacular failures to launch... and it was not supposed to launch!! Hold down clamps and software control systems and manual override all must have failed. "Rockets are Hard" — Elon https://t.co/6EUoWf1LxS
"Static" fire of a Tianlong-3 first stage by China. https://t.co/J4kqRtHzSb
Wow. This is apparently what was supposed to be a STATIC FIRE TEST today of a Tianlong-3 first stage by China's Space Pioneer. That's catastrophic, not static. Firm was targeting an orbital launch in the coming months. https://t.co/BY9MgJeE7A https://t.co/L6ronwLW1N