A Chinese carrier rocket which was being sent in response to SpaceX failed to reach the orbit. Landscape, a Beijing-based company built the three-stage rocket called the Zhuque-1. The company posted a short blog admitting that the first and second stages of the craft failed to reach the orbit due to the failure of the third stage. The blog from the company stated, “Before Zhuque carrier rocket was launched, its mission was already completed.” However, no more details were given about the incident. There is also no information on when the second attempt to launch the satellite will be made.
The Zhuque-1 rocket was carrying a satellite which was created by the China Central Television group called “Future.” Most fans of SpaceX or Elon Musk are familiar with the competitors in the market within the US like Blue Origin. However, there was little to no information about sending privately-funded satellites into the orbit from the Chinese or other international teams. The attempts to improve the space program in China are mostly made as a result of the efforts of President Xi Jinping.
In 2012, the president said that he wants to become a “space flight superpower” and send a manned space station into the orbit by 2022. Encountering a failure is not a surprise for anyone. CEO of SpaceX Elon Musk also put together a compilation of videos of SpaceX’s biggest failures throughout the years. Eventually, the company finally succeeded in sending and landing a rocket.
