Long March rocket CZ-3B explodes over Sichuan, China, February 15, 1996 (Video)

this is by no means "new" news but it is worth knowing about.

i had never heard of this incident, or seen a video with this kind of destruction from a failed launch, definitely worth checking out.

PS it's loud so you might want to turn down your speakers.

Wow,
Holy *snip*, I never heard of this!
SnF!

Back to the drawing boards for the Chinese Scientists!!

And we're worried about China because??

ETA:- My bad, didn't notice the date. Maybe they went back and rectified the fault.

awful lot of devistation, what was on that rocket??

wow, that looked like an armed warhead going off, all those poor people.

I didn't hear of this before either, shows how good they are at keeping things silent.

GM

reply to post by Grey Magic


Who are you referring too exactly? I assume you do 'not' mean China.

Whilst not funny the speaker did crack me up.

reply to post by eyespying


The world wide corporate media system.

What you have to remember about rockets of this size, is that they are essentialy bombs that go off in a controlled manner, burning thier fuel slower than would a mere explosive device. Of course , premature detonation is an unfortunate side effect of high speed impact with the floor.

I would have thought that something went wrong with the gantry , and the moment of release of this rocket. Seemed more accute than a mere navigational control issue, as the dysfunctional turn began almost as soon as the rocket left the launch pad, rather than skewing off after accelerating away from the ground.

Those of you who are concerned that this might have been a warhead... you are right to question, but in this case your concerns are not justified by fact. I know the devastation is huge, but as previously mentioned, rockets of this type and size are little more than explosives which are forced to burn slowly. Most ANY rocket launched by mankind has the potential to eliminate many miles of land, if it were to turn around and collide with the terrain.

As far as fatalities from this rocket, I found this info about it on Wiki:

"Intelsat 708 Satellite, a Long March rocket, veered off course immediately after launch, crashing in the nearby village only 22 seconds later. and destroying 80 houses. According to official Chinese reports there were 6 fatalities resulting from the incident, but other accounts estimated 100 fatalities.[86]"

Looks like they've had two crashes that resulted in casualties with this particular rocket.

Just sayin

Oh, the humanity!

Guess that still didn't help the chinese understand why we launch rockets out over the ocean.

reply to post by centurion1211


I have a theory about why China has been reluctant to place its space exploration/exploitation launch sites near the ocean.

I think that China would rather have thier programmes in land, so that security can be more easily maintained with regard to secrecy. In China, safety is not as important as the overwhelming need of the Chinese government to make advancements and modifications to its technology, out of the sight of prying eyes.