Chinese blank caller Beijing Tianbing incidentally launched a arugula during a test of its first - degree power organization on Sunday .

The caller – also known as Space Pioneer – fired up the first - stage Tianlong-3 rocket in what was supposed to be a static test . However , due to a structural failure the rocket was launched to its destruction .

" During the mental test foot race , the first - stage rocket engine ignited commonly , and the railway locomotive thrust reached 820 tons , " the company explain in astatement . " Due to structural failure at the connection between the projectile body and the examination bench , the first - stage rocket separated from the launch launch pad . "

The onboard computer shut off automatically soon after the unexpected liftoff , and the rocket was seen fly vertically for a short amount of time , before turn horizontal and fall back down to the reason .

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The rocket salad cut down into the tidy sum around 1.5 kilometers ( 0.9 Roman mile ) from the launching internet site at Gongyi City , Henan Province , China . There have been no cover casualty , according to the firm , and the surrounding domain had been evacuate of staff office in advance of the launch .

Accidents of this sort are pretty rarified in spaceflight history . Astrophysicist Brad Tucker from the Australian National University told theNew York Timesthat the only comparable incident occurred in 1952 , when NASA ’s Viking 8 weaken costless of its moorings and landed in the desert 8 kilometers ( 5 miles ) away .

The Tianlong-3 rocket is intended to be reusable , as a agency of subjugate the incredible cost imply in spacefaring . It is skip the a la mode version will be capable of carrying up to 17 tons into low - earthly concern orbit , or 14 loads in a sun - synchronous orbit . The unintended flight was the most - powerful system test of any test conducted in China , according to Beijing Tianbing , though the detritus scattered over the nearby mound will bear witness it was n’t on the nose a resounding succeeder .