First launch of China’s Kuaizhou-11 carrier rocket fails

Kuaizhou-11, launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, failed during its maiden flight

China’s Kuaizhou-11 carrier rocket suffered a failure during its maiden flight on Friday. The rocket was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 12:17 p.m. (Beijing Time), but a malfunction occurred during the flight, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua.

Kuaizhou-11: the first flight of the new solid launcher developed by ExPace, subsidiary of China Aerospace Science & Industry Corporation Limited (REUTERS (Representativ))

Kuaizhou, fast ship in Chinese, is a low-cost solid-fueled carrier rocket. The rocket was designed to launch low-Earth and Sun-synchronous orbit satellites.

News channel CGTN said the rocket had a lift-off mass of 70.8 tonnes.

The specific cause of the failure is under further analysis and investigation.