China's Long March 3B Launches Despite Lightning Strike
2 sources · first reported 8h ago
A Long March 3B rocket launched from China and delivered its payload to orbit despite being struck by lightning after liftoff. The launch was one of two conducted by China on the same day, with the other being the Kinetica-1 launch which put 5 satellites into orbit.
Why it matters
The successful launch of the Long March 3B rocket demonstrates China's capabilities in space technology and its ability to overcome unexpected challenges, such as lightning strikes, during launches.
Independent Media 2
Single-source: Independent Media
Development timeline
How this story unfolded across sources, oldest first.