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.
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.
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.
It's raining men..ah..boosters.
— Susanne Auer🇪🇺 (is also on Bluesky) (@AuerSusan) December 26, 2023
Long March 3B booster coming down near Xichang Satellite Launch Center.
source:https://t.co/Qma13Griwl h/t: @AJ_FI pic.twitter.com/YIjNimmpzM
Another video shows the crash site, with very toxic hypergolic propellant rising from the ashes. The booster landed just feet from a house.
Long March 3B launch on 26.12.2023, the aftermath: pic.twitter.com/AMFPWJcY0j
— Susanne Auer🇪🇺 (is also on Bluesky) (@AuerSusan) December 26, 2023
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.
