BEIJING (AP) — The failure of China's Long March 5 rocket deals a rare setback to China's highly successful space program that could delay plans to bring back moon samples and offer rival India a chance to move ahead in the space rankings.
Experts say the still unexplained mishap shows that for all its triumphs, China's space program is not immune to the tremendous difficulties and risks involved in working with such cutting-edge technology.
"China's approach has been slow and prudent, trying to avoid this kind of 'failure,' even though they knew it was going to occur sooner or later," Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on China's space program at the US Naval War College, wrote in an email.
Authorities say the Long March 5 Y2 that took off Sunday in the second launch of a Long March 5 rocket, suffered an abnormality during the flight after what appeared to be a successful liftoff from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in the southern island province of Hainan. The incident is under investigation and the authorities have yet to comment on possible causes or any knock-on effects on the program as a whole.
In a testimony to the high respect, China's program now commands, the failure drew widespread commentary in the space community, including from SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk, who tweeted Sunday: "Sorry to hear about China launch failure today. I know how painful that is to the people who designed & built it." Read more...
Experts say the still unexplained mishap shows that for all its triumphs, China's space program is not immune to the tremendous difficulties and risks involved in working with such cutting-edge technology.
"China's approach has been slow and prudent, trying to avoid this kind of 'failure,' even though they knew it was going to occur sooner or later," Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on China's space program at the US Naval War College, wrote in an email.
Authorities say the Long March 5 Y2 that took off Sunday in the second launch of a Long March 5 rocket, suffered an abnormality during the flight after what appeared to be a successful liftoff from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in the southern island province of Hainan. The incident is under investigation and the authorities have yet to comment on possible causes or any knock-on effects on the program as a whole.
In a testimony to the high respect, China's program now commands, the failure drew widespread commentary in the space community, including from SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk, who tweeted Sunday: "Sorry to hear about China launch failure today. I know how painful that is to the people who designed & built it." Read more...