Watch: Chinese Rocket Booster Nearly Destroys House
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A dramatic video shared on social media platform X captures the moment a booster from a Chinese Long March 3B carrier rocket plummets from the sky, crashes into a hillside forest and explodes feet away from a house.
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Chinese state-run media outlet Global Times reported the Long March-3B rocket with a Yuanzheng-1 upper delivered two Beidou satellites into medium Earth orbit on Tuesday morning from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the country’s Southwest Sichuan Province.
🚀. Long March 3B with Yuanzheng-1 upper stage launched 2 Beidou MEO backup satellites from Xichang on December 26 at ~03:26UTC. pic.twitter.com/VLBzPTK32f
— China 'N Asia Spaceflight 🚀X 🛰️ (@CNSpaceflight) December 26, 2023
The launch was deemed a success, with the 57th and the 58th Beidou satellites added to the BeiDou Satellite Navigation System, China’s mega constellation of satellites.
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However, video footage of the rocket’s booster falling from the sky and crashing into a hillside emerged hours after the launch on Chinese social media, then shared with X.
Long March 3B launch on 26.12.2023, the aftermath: pic.twitter.com/AMFPWJcY0j
— Susanne Auer🇪🇺 (is also on Bluesky) (@AuerSusan) December 26, 2023
Another video shows the crash site, with very toxic hypergolic propellant rising from the ashes. The booster landed just feet from a house.
Given China’s ability to copy technology, one might wonder why they haven’t yet deployed a self-landing booster similar to SpaceX’s technology developed by Elon Musk.