Posted: Sun, Jul 7 4:44 PM ET (2044 GMT)
An H3 rocket launched a Japanese Earth science satellite June 30. The H3 lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center at 11:06 pm EDT (0306 GMT July 1) and deployed the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-4 (ALOS-4) into a sun-synchronous orbit. ALOS-4, built by prime contractor Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, carries a phased array type L-band synthetic aperture radar that is an improvement over the one on ALOS-2. The launch was the second successful flight of the H3 after a launch in February that carried a test payload and two smallsats. The inaugural launch of the rocket last year, carrying ALOS-3, failed.

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•  SpaceNews article
•  AP article
•  Japan Times article

Posted: Sun, Jul 7 4:36 PM ET (2036 GMT)
A static-fire test of a new Chinese launch vehicle became very dynamic Sunday. The booster for Space Pioneer's Tianlong-3 rocket broke free of its moorings during the test and ascended. The engines shut down and the stage crashed back to Earth 50 seconds after it took off, about 1.5 kilometers from the test site, with no casualties reported. Space Pioneer was conducting its test as a buildup to an orbital launch of the Tianlong-3, a vehicle with performance similar to the Falcon 9. The company, which raised $207 million earlier in the month, said there was a structural failure in the connection between the rocket and the test bench.

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•  SpaceNews article
•  Reuters article
•  Business Insider article

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