Chinese Commercial Rocket Launch Fails

Landspace Zhuque-1 booster (Credit: Landspace)

Chinese private launch company LandSpace suffered a setback on Saturday when its new three-stage Zhuque-1 small satellite booster failed on its inaugural launch.

Posted video shows the solid-fuel booster taking off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. However, media reports indicate the launch vehicle failed to orbit the Weilai-1 microsatellite aboard after the failure of attitude control on the third stage.

LandSpace is one of several private Chinese launch companies hoping to grab a share of the global market.

It was China’s 30th launch of the year and its first failure.