Chinese Rocket Fail: Frightening Moment ‘Sky Dragon 3’ Crashes Into Mountain After ‘Accidental’ Launch During Tests

A Chinese aerospace company triggered a massive explosion when an accidentally launched rocket came tumbling back to Earth .

Knewz.com has learned that the entity responsible for the premature take-off, Tianbing Technology , was carrying out a “hot” test in China ’s Henan Province when the incident occurred.

In an update on the Chinese social media platform, WeChat , the company gave its account of the incident involving its Tianlong(Heavenly Dragon)-3, saying:

“During the test run, the first-stage rocket ignited normally, and the engine thrust reached 820 tons.”

“Due to structural failure at the connection between the rocket body and the test bench, the first-stage rocket separated from the launch pad,” the update explained.

Where things started going wrong, according to China’s equivalent of SpaceX , was when the onboard computer shut down and the rocket fell back to Earth landing almost a mile away from the test bench.

A video posted on social media shows the rocket launching on the far side of a built-up area. As it soars into the sky it emits a plume of black smoke. Shortly after, it reaches the apex of its climb and arcs back towards the ground.

Seconds later a massive ball of flame appears in the proximity of the rocket’s launching point.

According to Tianbing, its staff and government officials evacuated the surrounding area leading up to the launch.

“Before the test, we worked with the local government to improve safety measures and organize the evacuation of surrounding personnel in advance. After investigation, no casualties were found,” the company noted in the WeChat update.

Tianbing went on to explain that the rocket’s dimensions were 12.4 feet and had a mass of 590 tons with an orbit capacity of 17 tons—claiming that these features are what made it so much like Elon Musk’s Falcon 9.

It further noted that the rocket test involved nine Tianhuo-12 rocket engines and that it was “the most powerful power system test of any carrier rocket currently under development in [China], and is three times more powerful than any previous test of the largest thrust in China's aerospace industry.”

This was not the first time a Chinese rocket came crashing down to Earth. According to a previous report by Knewz.com, another incident occurred on Christmas Day 2023, when the Xichang Satellite Launch Center sent up two commercial space vehicles.

The rockets used in the launch were Long March 3Bs and they deposited their fares into Middle Earth Orbit.

Once that was achieved, the rockets detached and fell back to earth. Videos of the falling debris captured them landing in residential areas with some chunks of smoking metal lying on private property while the dismayed residents stood by and watched.

Andrew Jones, a journalist tracking China’s space programs took to X with his observations on the space junk saying: “It’s been a while … This kind of falling booster action was a feature of the Long March 3B launches of Beidou satellites from Xichang.”