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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Chinese rocket explodes shortly after take-off as Beijing races to compete with SpaceX |
| 2026-08-13 |
| [Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A Chinese rocket exploded shortly after take-off as Beijing raced to compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX. Dramatic footage shows the Long March 7A rocket bursting into flames just 85 seconds after blasting off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan on Monday. Videos shared on social media showed a fiery ball erupting in the sky before a cloud of grey smoke formed and debris appeared to fall towards the ground. Singapore-based broadcaster Channel NewsAsia also shared footage of awestruck crowds watching the explosion. 'The rocket experienced an anomaly during the flight and the launch mission failed,' Xinhua said. The launcher was completely destroyed, with authorities saying the cause of the failure is now under investigation. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reacted to footage of the explosion on X, writing: 'Rockets are insanely hard.' 'I hope they have a speedy recovery,' he later added. The failure comes as China pours billions of dollars into its rapidly expanding space programme in a bid to achieve what President Xi Jinping has called the country's 'space dream'. |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
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| Posted by: SteveS 2026-08-13 08:42 |
| #1 |
| Posted by: NN2N1 2026-08-13 04:41 |