Unsuccessful launch of Long March 4C

Media reports about the failure of the launch of the Chinese rocket Long March 4C ( Great campaign-4C ). Official news agencies have not yet confirmed the information about the disaster. The rocket was launched on Wednesday from the Taiyuan cosmodrome at 2:55 local time and had to bring the Gaofen-10 satellite to heliosynchronous orbit.

China conducts launches in secrecy, especially in the case of launches in the interests of the military from the Taiyuan cosmodrome, and the imminent launch becomes known after navigational warnings in areas where the exhaust stages have fallen. The launch is announced in the official media after the successful completion of the mission - approximately 40 minutes after the start, but this time it did not happen, and the official media remain silent. US Space Surveillance found no new objects in near-earth orbit, which confirms the first unsuccessful launch of Long March 4C in 2016.



On Thursday morning, reports began to arrive that villagers had found rocket debris. Fragments of the first stage were found (the first photo) in the expected area of ​​fall 600 km from the start. Further, 1050 km from the cosmodrome, in the center of the second zone of falling steps, were found the remains of the head fairing, which confirms that the flight was normal until the late stages of the second stage. The problem arose with either the second stage or the third. The failure of the third stage is a very rare defect for Long March 4C and in this case an unsuccessful launch will not affect subsequent launches.
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In mid-September, it is planned to launch the new Tyangun-2 orbital station using a Long March 2F rocket, and then launch the Shenzhou-11 to it with a two-person crew in October.