China’s Long March 7A Rocket Fails After Launching Zhongxing-4B Satellite

China’s Long March 7A Rocket Fails After Launching Zhongxing-4B Satellite

Beijing (Aug. 11) [VoM News]: It was a tough day for China’s space ambitions. Their Long March 7A rocket, which was supposed to carry the Zhongxing-4B communications satellite to orbit, exploded just moments after leaving the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan province, state media has announced.

The rocket launched at 8:02 p.m. Local time Monday night, but the mission didn’t make it. China’s state-run Xinhua news agency has reported that a formal investigation has begun to get to the bottom of what exactly happened.

Social media is ablaze with videos, also shared by regional news outlets, that seem to show the rocket exploding about 85 seconds into the flight. A huge fireball lights up the night sky before bits and pieces are seen falling back to earth. So far, Chinese officials haven’t officially confirmed the mid-air detonation.

This failure is a blow to China’s booming space program. It has been lavished with cash from Beijing as the country works towards President Xi Jinping’s ambitious goal of becoming a major space power.

That being said, China has been building some serious momentum in its space endeavors. In July, the country landed a reusable rocket for the very first time and is on schedule to send astronauts to the Moon before the end of the decade.

Responding to the situation, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted “rockets are insanely hard” and added his best wishes for a “speedy recovery” for the Chinese space program.

It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first hiccup for the Long March 7A; its first launch in 2020 also went south due to technical issues.

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VoM News International Desk