The rocket was undergoing a static fire test of the stage, in which a vehicle is clamped to a test stand while its engines are ignited, when the booster broke free. According to a statement from the company, the rocket was not sufficiently clamped down and blasted off from the test stand “due to a structural failure.”

Video of the accidental ascent showed the rocket rising several hundred meters into the sky before it crashed explosively into a mountain 1.5 km away from the test site.

  • verity_kindle@sh.itjust.works
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    4 months ago

    Plus some bay or gulf, relatively quiet, very close by the site helps. It’s too bad the Chinese don’t have any of those.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Yeah, it was crazy how close a city was - one of the things Scot Manley went over