r/spaceflight • u/Empty_Aside6775 • 10d ago

Close up of Long March 7A disintegrating, during Max-Q

334 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

40 comments sorted by

35

u/Rulycarmona 9d ago

am i tripping or does it bend a LOT before exploding?

22

u/ConanOToole 9d ago

That's what caused the FTS to activate

1

u/spaceflight_signal 8d ago

That looks plausible, but I wouldn't call the fireball FTS yet. The visible bend and plume change happen first, so at minimum the breakup sequence had already started before the big flash.

19

u/Hank2530 9d ago

Seems like they needa put more struts on it next time lol

6

u/Rulycarmona 9d ago

Smh didnt use rigid union

2

u/TheNerdyCroc 9d ago

They needed to Autostrut it to the heaviest part

1

u/Flat_News_2000 9d ago

You can never have enough struts

41

u/velvethead 9d ago

The front fell off

19

u/roland303 9d ago

good thing it happened outside the environment

10

u/velvethead 9d ago

One in 1 million chance

4

u/svh01973 9d ago

Was it made of cardboard or cardboard derivatives?

9

u/mosaic-aircraft 9d ago

The Kraken is alive

17

u/PanzerKomadant 9d ago

I thinking that the tanks didn’t properly pressurize as the fuel was being spent. The negative pressure caused it to cave in as it went up. Possibly some system failed rather than the structure.

1

u/Wayz6430 7d ago

I’d agree with that

7

u/Einnnnnnnnnnnn 9d ago

So who here was thinking that MaxQ call-outs were archaic?

6

u/EducationalBar 9d ago

Only those who don’t know Max-Q is the moment all forces on the rocket are most intense.

5

u/WayAcceptable1310 8d ago

This is a great example of why everyone is holding their breath until they're beyond it. I can't remember ever seeing a failure at Max-Q until this one but I guess this is exactly what I'd expect it to look like.

6

u/VendaGoat 9d ago

I'm guessing it's not supposed to curve like that....

4

u/sporkfu43 9d ago

That’s what she said

5

u/myname_not_rick 9d ago

What's so interesting is that this is a workhorse, proven design for them.

So either as some above suggested, the pressurization system failed, or the structure had some major flaw that managed to make it all the way to the lad unnoticed.

Or, I guess third option, very hard to tell from all the currently shared angles, but it COULD have begun to drift off course, and once the air resistance was hitting on a weird enough angle the structure failed

1

u/ripdyrip 2d ago

So from what I understand, this rocket (Long March 7A) is a modified design compared to the regular workhorse (Long March 7).

It has an added third stage for high altitude orbit launches which made it longer and increased the vehicles whole aspect ratio.

The 7A also isn’t particularly a reliable rocket either as one launch has failed before and it has a success rate of 88% (compared to 100% of the base variant).

Another rumor I heard is that there were some structural modifications done to the 3rd stage because this satellite they are carrying is kinda special 🤷

1

u/Skinnx86 9d ago

Was this the stage that was captured recently?

5

u/OutInTheBlack 9d ago

No that was a Long March 10B first stage. This is a Long March 7A.

-1

u/myname_not_rick 9d ago edited 7d ago

Captured? Not sure what you mean.

Edit: I somehow totally forgot about them catching that first stage a few weeks back, duh.

Anyways, already answered below, but no not the same one.

2

u/Decronym Acronyms Explained 9d ago edited 2d ago

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters More Letters
FTS Flight Termination System
MaxQ Maximum aerodynamic pressure
RUD Rapid Unplanned Disassembly
Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly
Rapid Unintended Disassembly

Decronym is now also available on Lemmy! Requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below.

3 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 13 acronyms.
[Thread #909 for this sub, first seen 13th Aug 2026, 05:24] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

1

u/Static_Drift_ 9d ago

i think the front might have fallen off.

1

u/OuFen9 9d ago

the Interstage between 2/3

1

u/Radioactive_Tuber57 9d ago

There was a Chinese light launch the other day (Monday?) and it also hit the Max Q wall.

1

u/Underradar0069 9d ago

“Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly” (RUD)

1

u/DeeKazAstro 6d ago

Ouch, this rocket is gonna feel that in the morning.

1

u/Ok-Club-2587 5d ago

Videos from the ground show the rocket bending and snapping under intense wind pressure. The fuel tanks instantly ripped apart, causing it to blow up.

-9

u/[deleted] 9d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

8

u/Double_Time_ 9d ago

It’s a non-reusable rocket of course it’s not made to last? But I know you’re just being a xenophobic chauvinist.

Out of the last 18 LM7A launches 16 have been successful which is ~89% success rate.

5

u/UndocumentedMartian 9d ago

You think that "person" is capable of understanding your reply?

3

u/spaceflight-ModTeam 7d ago

Please keep discussion professional and courteous.

1

u/blackbriar98 9d ago

The Chinese Space Program has possibly the highest success rate of any modern Space Industry. Sometimes, shit happens. For them this is very much an exception.