On Sunday, a strange and not entirely innocent test accident occurred in China. A rocket stage had become detached from the ramp during a so-called static fire test and left for an unplanned flight (see video above).
During the static fire test, a test of the propulsion system, near the city of Gongyi in Henan province, nine engines were fired. The rocket, which was anchored to the ground by the private company Space Pioneer, was not allowed to take off, but to remain on the ground.
The rocket took off due to a faulty anchoring
When the thrust of the engines reached 820 tons, the first rocket stage of a “Tianlong-3” rocket under development became detached due to a faulty anchorage.
The onboard computer automatically shut down the rocket’s engines a few moments later and it subsequently crashed 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) southwest of the launch site, the company said in a statement.
Exploded on a hill near the big city
Video apparently recorded on a smartphone shows the missile’s unintended flight, which lasted about 50 seconds, its crash and the fireball as it hit a wooded hillside near the city of Gongyi, which has a population of 800,000.
No one was injured when the rocket crashed because the region was evacuated before the test, Space Pioneer said in a statement.
Source: Krone
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