A rare rocket failure led to knock-on effects on China’s space launches. What happened?
After publishing: 1 headline quietly rewritten1 change
- South China Morning Postseen 13 Aug, 04:15headline rewritten
China’s Long March 7A rocket explodes after launch, satellite lostA rare rocket failure led to knock-on effects on China’s space launches. What happened?
What it is about
Who published it, and when
How it spread - 26 original reports
Mon, 10 August 2026
6 reports- tportal (Croatia)15:52first to report
Kina je priopćila da lansiranje satelita ChinaSat-4B raketom Long March 7A nije uspjelo nakon što je raketa ubrzo po uzlijetanju s poletišta Wenchang u ponedjeljak doživjela "nepravilnost u letu".
- South China Morning Post16:09edited after publishing
previously
China’s Long March 7A rocket explodes after launch, satellite lostChina has suffered a rare failure of one of its newer-generation Long March rockets, losing a communications satellite after the launcher exploded shortly after take-off on Monday night. Around 8pm Beijing time, the unmanned 60-metre (197-foot) Long March 7A blasted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site on the southern island of Hainan, piercing the night sky as it carried the ChinaSat-4B satellite towards high Earth orbit. But less than 90 seconds into the flight, the rocket erupted into a...
- Index.hr (Croatia)16:17
LANSIRANJE kineskog satelita ChinaSat-4B raketom Long March 7A nije uspjelo.
- dailycaller.com16:57
China’s space program suffered a major setback Monday when a Long March 7A rocket carrying an unknown payload exploded shortly after launching.
- Der Spiegel (Germany)18:26
Weniger als 90 Sekunden nach dem Start ist eine chinesische Trägerrakete explodiert. Sie sollte einen Satelliten in eine hohe Erdumlaufbahn bringen. Die Ursache des Zwischenfalls ist bislang unklar.
- Wirtualna Polska (Poland)19:52
Chińska rakieta Długi Marsz 7A z nieznanym ładunkiem na pokładzie wystartowała w poniedziałek z kosmodromu Wenchang na wyspie Hajnan. Niecałe 90 sekund po starcie eksplodowała. Sieć obiegło nagranie ukazujące wybuch.
Tue, 11 August 2026
10 reports- Channel News Asia03:20
Monday's (Aug 10) mission was the Long March 7A's first failure since its unsuccessful maiden flight in March 2020.
- Al Jazeera English04:34
China’s Long March 7A rocket exploded shortly after lifting off from the Wenchang launch site in Hainan.
- Index.hr (Croatia)04:47
KINA je izgubila satelit nakon neuspješnog lansiranja rakete Dugi marš 7A, objavila je kineska državna novinska agencija Xinhua.
- 24sata (Croatia)05:11
Bio je to drugi neuspješan let rakete Dugi marš 7A. Njezin prvi let u ožujku 2020. također je završio neuspjehom. Nakon toga raketa je uspješno izvela 16 lansiranja zaredom
- tportal (Croatia)05:14
Kina je u ponedjeljak izgubila satelit nakon neuspješnog lansiranja rakete, izvijestila je državna novinska agencija Xinhua
- localnews8.com05:39
By Sylvie Zhuang, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — A Chinese rocket set to launch a satellite into orbit blew-up seconds after liftoff Monday, marking the relatively rare failure for a rocket considered a workhorse of Beijing’s space program. The Long March 7A rocket erupted into a massive fireball just 85 seconds after blasting off from
- Novinky (Czechia)09:54
Čínský pokus o vynesení družice ChinaSat-4B pomocí nosné rakety Dlouhý pochod 7A skončil v pondělí nezdarem. Raketa odstartovala ve 20:02 tamního času (14:02 SELČ) z kosmodromu Wen-čchang na jihočínském ostrově Chaj-nan, informovala státní tisková agentura Nová Čína. Stroj krátce po startu zaznamenal letovou anomálii, příčina selhání se analyzuje a vyšetřuje.
- Vecernji list (Croatia)11:27
Blaine Curcio, osnivač tvrtke Orbital Gateway Consulting, ocijenio je nesreću ne baš dobrim razvojem događaja za program Long March 7A
- Le Figaro (France)12:09
VIDÉO - Cet incident s’est produit sur une fusée Longue Marche 7A, qui a décollé de Wenchang, dans la province de Hainan (sud), à 20h02 (12h02 GMT), selon Chine Nouvelle.
- taipeitimes.com16:00
A Chinese rocket carrying a communications satellite failed in its launch, state media said, attributing the failure to a “flight anomaly” as reports and videos suggested the spacecraft had exploded in mid-air.Beijing has plowed billions of dollars into its space program in the past few years to ach
Wed, 12 August 2026
1 report- Channel News Asia09:40
A Long March 7A rocket exploded shortly after liftoff on Monday (Aug 10), bringing its half-decade run of successful missions to a fiery end. The extent of the fallout on China’s space programme will hinge on what investigators uncover, say analysts.
Mon, 17 August 2026
4 reports- en.ce.cn05:00
- en.people.cn11:00
A Long March-2C carrier rocket carrying an SEO satellite blasts off from the Taiyuan Satellite Laun
- en.people.cn11:00
A Long March-2C carrier rocket carrying an SEO satellite blasts off from the Taiyuan Satellite Laun
- South China Morning Post21:30
There is something about the speed of consensus on China’s rocket failures that should give us pause. Within hours of Long March-7A rocket’s disintegration over the South China Sea on August 10, trade reports were pointing to an engine as the likely culprit. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) had said nothing of the kind. An official Xinhua report about three hours after the launch described only “a flight anomaly” and an investigation under way. The cause is...
Wed, 19 August 2026
1 report- South China Morning Post12:00
Taiwan’s first test of a locally developed satellite launch vehicle failed on Wednesday after the rocket veered off course, terrifying nearby villagers who mistook it for an incoming missile. The rocket was launched at around 6am local time from the Jiupeng missile testing base in southern Pingtung county. The base is operated by the government-backed National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST), Taiwan’s top weapons developer. Witnesses said the projectile climbed briefly...
Sun, 23 August 2026
1 report- dw.com14:30
Rockets on the beach and volcano parks: China is seeing a new kind of tourism emerging from its space ambitions and dreams of flying to Mars.
Tue, 25 August 2026
2 reports- Anadolu Agency (AA)10:22
Rocket blasts off from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi province
- South China Morning Post12:30
For generations, Wenchang, on Hainan’s northeastern coast, was better known for coconuts, its namesake chicken and the emigrants who left for Southeast Asia in search of a living. Now the rhythms of life here have been altered, gradually and then all at once, by China’s space programme. Wenchang Space Launch Site staged its first launch in 2016. Since then it has become one of the country’s top name-cards for rocket launches. I was near the site over the weekend, excited to witness the...
Sun, 30 August 2026
1 report- Channel News Asia22:00
As rocket launches draw crowds to Wenchang, the coastal city in Hainan is trying to turn the spectacle into something more lasting - from tourism and manufacturing to satellite data, businesses and jobs.