HAINAN, China — An eyewitness video captured the moment a Chinese Long March 7A rocket exploded shortly after takeoff from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan province on Monday, August 10.
The rocket lifted off at around 8:02 p.m. Beijing time (1202 GMT) carrying the ChinaSat-4B satellite, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua. The mission was unsuccessful after an in-flight anomaly, with authorities saying the cause was under analysis and investigation.
Video footage showed a bright explosion shortly after the rocket launched, followed by debris falling from the sky.
Reuters verified the location of the footage by matching features visible in the video — including the launch pad, beach, coastline and surrounding vegetation — with archive and satellite imagery. The date of the footage was also consistent with official and media reports of the August 10 launch failure.
Monday's incident marked the first failure of the Long March 7A since its maiden flight in March 2020, when an in-flight malfunction caused the mission to fail.
The rocket returned to flight successfully the following year and went on to complete more than a dozen successful missions before Monday's launch, based on Chinese launch records.
Authorities are continuing to investigate the cause of the latest failure.
