WASHINGTON — South Korean startup Innospace says its inaugural launch failed in December when exhaust leaked from a combustion chamber and caused the rocket to break up.
Innospace announced March 17 that it had completed its investigation into the launch of its first Hanbit-Nano rocket Dec. 22 from the Alcântara Space Center in Brazil. The rocket appeared to lift off normally but fell back to Earth and exploded about 80 seconds after liftoff.
The company said it found that, 33 seconds after liftoff, exhaust leaked from the rocket's first-stage combustion chamber, "resulting in a rupture of the combustion chamber and the subsequent separation of the launch vehicle into multiple parts.
