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China's Tianlong-3 rocket cleared for commercial launch a year after crash

One year after a rocket accident setback China's commercial space industry, Beijing-based Space Pioneer has completed a critical test of its redesigned Tianlong-3, the South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday. The company, known as Beijing Tianbing Technology, this week announced that it had wrapped up a full-scale ground test simulating flight conditions using Tianlong-3's first stage, which houses nine liquid-fuel engines generating nearly 900 tonnes of thrust. The structure, the firm confirmed, passed all evaluations without incident — a milestone following last year's highly publicised failure. Chinese rocket crash after accidental launch On June 30, 2024, a static-fire test in Gongyi, Henan province, turned into an unplanned launch when the rocket's first stage detached from its test stand due to structural failure. The vehicle lifted off briefly before crashing into the nearby mountains, disintegrating on impact. 'Due to the structural failure of the connection between the rocket body and the test platform, the first-stage rocket was separated from the launch pad,' the company said at the time. The rocket landed roughly 1.5 kilometres away. No injuries were reported, as the surrounding areas had been cleared in advance. Videos of the crash quickly went viral. While early statements attributed the failure to faulty platform connections, internal investigations later identified a more serious design flaw: a weak tail section, which bears the full brunt of vertical thrust, lateral stress, engine vibrations, and potential landing forces. Over 100 design fixes implemented In the year since the incident, Space Pioneer has rolled out more than 100 upgrades to the rocket's design and testing regimen. These include reinforced structures, new backup safety systems, improved diagnostics and telemetry, and 13 additional ground tests. The redesign focused especially on strengthening the engine mounting section and improving load distribution during high-stress flight phases. The test success positions Tianlong-3 for its long-delayed debut flight, tentatively scheduled between July and August 2025, according to earlier announcements made during an aerospace expo in Shanghai this past April. Tianlong-3 designed to rival SpaceX's Falcon 9 With its capacity to carry 17-tonne payload to low-Earth orbit and 14-tonne capability to sun-synchronous orbit, Tianlong-3 is engineered to compete directly with SpaceX's Falcon 9. It is also designed for rapid reusability, with a stated goal of supporting up to 30 launches per year. Before this, the Tianlong-2 had become China's first commercial liquid carrier space shuttle to successfully enter orbit in April 2023. Tianlong-2 was also the world's first liquid carrier rocket to use coal-based space kerosene as fuel. A variant known as Tianlong-3M is under development, envisioned for ultra-fast, suborbital transport and future crewed missions.