Australian-made rocket crashes with Vegemite payload
Gilmour Space Technologies, the aerospace company behind the launch, is attempting to send the first Australian-made rocket into orbit from the country's soil.
The firm had said earlier it would consider the launch a success if the rocket left the ground.
'I'm so relieved you couldn't believe,' Adam Gilmour, the chief executive of the aerospace firm told AFP news agency. 'I was so nervous about it getting off the pad, that when it did I screamed in pure joy.'
Footage shows the rocket barely clearing the top of the launch tower, briefly hovering above the ground before running out of steam.
The 23-metre vehicle – designed to launch small satellites into low-Earth orbit – took off from Abbot Point, about 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) up from Brisbane.
The payload for the test flight was a jar of Vegemite, a popular Australian spread, which was strapped inside the rocket's nose cone.
Mr Gilmour said preparations for a second test flight were already under way, with a view to launching within the next 'six to eight months'.
'It's huge what you can prove with just 10 to 15 seconds of flight time,' he said.
He added: 'I'm sorry to say the Vegemite didn't make it.'
Millions in grants
The company, which has 230 employees, hopes to start commercial launches in late 2026 or early 2027.
Gilmour Space Technologies has private funders and was awarded a grant of five million Australian dollars (£2.4m) this month from the country's federal government for the development of the Eris rocket.
It followed the firm's A$52m (£25.3m) grant agreement with the government in 2023 to advance the development and commercialisation of new space technologies in Australia.
The country has been the site of hundreds of suborbital vehicle launches but there have only been two successful launches to orbit from Australia before, according to the aerospace news platform NASASpaceFlight.
The Eris test flight was the first orbital launch attempt from Australia in more than 50 years.
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