Allegedly Chinese launch failure

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geminivi

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Correct, this happened around 1996 and involved the launch of a Space System Loral satellite. I believe this video was taken on the sly by a Loral engineer. Later I heard from other engineers who were onsite that the devastation was wide spread and the death toll much higher than official Chinese stories. It was this launch that lead to both Hughs and Loral being fined for technology transfer violations and that lead to the ban on Chinese launchers that exist to this day.
 
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jimfromnsf

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Only the US and ESA use destruct packages. Russia uses thrust termination and China.......
 
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edkyle98

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Yes. This happened on February 14, 1996. It was the very first launch attempt by a Chang Zheng 3B (CZ3B, or Long March 3B). The payload was Intelsat 708. The cause of the failure was reportedly due to the failure of a component in the launch vehicle's inertial measurement unit. The post-failure Congressional investigation report, prepared by a Republican Congress during the Clinton era, was chock full of political paranoia.<br /><br />http://www.house.gov/coxreport/cont/gncont.html<br /><br /> - Ed Kyle
 
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geminivi

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Having spoken to an engineer on the scene, I have no doubt that the restricts from a "Republican" Congress where about right.<br /><br />I haven't heard any member of Congress talk about removing those restrictions from 11 years ago. Fact is, Loral and Hughes were desperate for cash back then, they would have sold just about anything if they could slide it by the laws of the time. In fact they did after this launch, got caught and Chinese launchers are off limits to this day. I suspect that it was either Loral or Hughes engineers, on the scene in China, that brought back stories of Chinese theft of technology and hardware that ultimately caused the "political paranoia" that you mention.
 
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PistolPete

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That's some amazing video, Ace.<br /><br />The Chinese probobly waited to issue the destruct command untill it was over the village instead of at the first sign that the launch was off nominal because they didn't want to damage their expensive launch tower. Who cares about the villagers, life is cheap in China. ( <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /> ) <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><em>So, again we are defeated. This victory belongs to the farmers, not us.</em></p><p><strong>-Kambei Shimada from the movie Seven Samurai</strong></p> </div>
 
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edkyle98

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>"I haven't heard any member of Congress talk about removing those restrictions from 11 years ago. Fact is, Loral and Hughes were desperate for cash back then, they would have sold just about anything if they could slide it by the laws of the time. In fact they did after this launch, got caught and Chinese launchers are off limits to this day. I suspect that it was either Loral or Hughes engineers, on the scene in China, that brought back stories of Chinese theft of technology and hardware that ultimately caused the "political paranoia" that you mention."<<br /><br />The political aspect was kind of funny, actually, with the Republican Congress trying to use revelations of "technology transfer" with China to embarrass Democratic Clinton. What made it funny was that a Republican President (Bush No. 1) had been in office when U.S. built comsats began to fly on Chinese launchers in 1990!<br /><br />The "technology transfer" during the launch failure investigations (there were two or three commercial Long March failures altogether) was, as I remember it, actually not really a big deal. Someone forgot to file some paperwork about a meeting, for example. It did, however, occur during the time that the U.S. was discovering that China had apparently infiltrated Los Alamos and other U.S. labs to steal nuke secrets. That is where the real damage was done to U.S. security. That and the recon plane intellegence bonanza that the U.S. handed to them a few years later when a spyplane crew landed on one of their runways.<br /><br /> - Ed Kyle
 
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earth_bound_misfit

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Hells teeth! The aftermath looks like a warzone <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------- </p><p>Wanna see this site looking like the old SDC uplink?</p><p>Go here to see how: <strong>SDC Eye saver </strong>  </p> </div>
 
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jimfromnsf

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"he Chinese probobly waited to issue the destruct command untill it was over the village instead of at the first sign that the launch was off nominal because they didn't want to damage their expensive launch tower. Who cares about the villagers, life is cheap in China. "<br /><br />For the same reason you state, the Chinese don't use destruct packages. That is only a US and ESA practice
 
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dragon04

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Wow.... That's one heckuva blast radius....<br /><br />Anyone else notice that is was a full 12 seconds from the fireball to the report? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>
 
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