You just know some engineering intern over in Beijing is having a bad day right about now:
Yeah not good!
Another few angles:
Just to stress this point: The rocket was not supposed to take off from the pad. It was meant to be a "static fire test" with no flight.
In other words, someone over there made ...
The rocket was launched by the private Chinese company "Space Pioneer." The resultant explosion reportedly resulted in a local fire that was quickly extinguished:
The two-stage Tianlong-3, "Sky Dragon 3", is a partly reusable rocket under development by Space Pioneer, one of a small group of private-sector rocket makers that have grown rapidly over the past five years. ...
According to Space Pioneer, the first stage of the Tianlong-3 ignited normally during a hot test but later detached from the test bench due to structural failure.
The Tianlong-3 is "part of Space Pioneer's efforts to develop low-cost, reusable launch vehicles to compete in the growing commercial launch market."
Next time, guys, leave the rocket in "park" when you test-fire it!
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
