Space Pioneer's Tianlong-3 Rocket Crashes In Central China

The Tianlong-3 rocket under development by Space Pioneer (photo: x @c0mmand0_2022)

JAKARTA - Beijing Tianbing Technology Co said on Sunday 30 June that the first phase of the Tianlong-3 rocket under development had been detached from the launcher pad during trials due to structural failures and landing in hilly areas in the city of Gongyi in central China.

"There have been no reports of casualties after the initial investigation," Beijing Tianbing, also known as Space Pioneer, said in a statement on its official WeChat account.

Part of the rocket stage spread over the "safe area" but caused a local fire, according to a separate statement by the emergency management bureau Gongyi. The fire has been extinguished and no one has been injured, the bureau said.

The two-stage Tianlong-3 rocket ("Sky Dragon 3") is a partially reusable rocket being developed by Space Pioneer, one of a small group of rapidly growing private sector rocket manufacturers in the last five years. The rocket deck crashed in China after launch.

According to Space Pioneer, the first stage of Tianlong-3 was normal during the heat test but then left the test bench due to a structural failure and landed in a 1.5 km (0.9 miles) hilly area from the location.

Tianlong-3's performance is equivalent to SpaceX's Falcon 9, according to Space Pioneer.

In April 2023, Space Pioneer launched a Tianlong-2 liquid fuel rocket, becoming the first private Chinese company to send a liquid fuel rocket into space.

Chinese commercial space companies have been rushing into the sector since 2014 when private investment in the industry was permitted by the state.

Many began to build satellites while others, including the Space Pioneer, focused on reusable rocket development that could significantly cut mission costs.

The company's test sites can be found along China's coastal territory, located near the sea for security reasons.

But some are also located within China such as the Space Pioneer test center in Gongyi, a city with a population of 800,000 people in the central province of Henan.