China's privately developed Zhuque-1 rocket fails to put satellite in orbit

President Jinping has high goals for space, including a permanently manned space station by 2022.

|Oct 29, 2018, 08:17:37 IST

A privately developed Chinese carrier rocket failed to reach orbit after lifting off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Saturday, in a blow to the country’s nascent attempts by private companies to rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX.The three-stage rocket, Zhuque-1, was developed by Beijing-based Landspace. The company said in a microblog post after nominal first and second stages that the spacecraft failed to reach orbit as a result of an issue with the third stage.“Before Zhuque carrier rocket was launched, its mission was already completed,” the company said in the post on Saturday, without giving further details.[caption id="attachment_5463041" align="alignnone" width="1280"]

The Zhuque-1 carrier rocket developed by Beijing-based Landspace lifts off from a launch pad at Jiuquan Launch Center in China. Reuters[/caption]Landspace was founded in 2015 and soon aimed to be the first Chinese private company to deliver a satellite into orbit. The company said it was the first private licensed company in China to launch carrier rockets.Zhuque-1 was carrying a satellite named “Future” built for state media China Central Television.In May, China launched “Chongqing Liangjiang Star” into space, the first rocket developed by Beijing-based private firm OneSpace Technology.Since coming to office in 2012, President Xi Jinping has made becoming a “space flight superpower” a priority for the government, which has a goal of sending a permanent manned space station into orbit by around 2022.

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