Old Unrelated Videos Shared As Failed Chinese Military Surveillance Rocket Launches.

Recently, a video showing two failed rocket launches went viral on social media. Sharing the video, users claimed that it shows Chinese military surveillance rockets that failed right after the launches. A user wrote, “In an unexpected turn of events, two separate Chinese military surveillance rockets both failed shortly after launch on the same day.”

Instagram Link | Archived Link.

However, as we investigated, we came to know that the claim was false. The viral clips are old and not from China. Here’s the fact check.

Fact Check 

The video contains two different clips.

We started our investigation by taking screenshots from the viral video and conducting a reverse image search.

First Clip 

A reverse image search of the screenshots from the first clip led us to a YouTube channel where a longer version was uploaded on 19 May 2014. The caption of the video read, “Proton M rocket explosion July 2 2013 slow motion full HD”

From the timestamp 0:30, the viral clip can be seen. 

The description of the video read, “The preliminary report of the investigation indicated that three of the first stage angular velocity sensors, responsible for yaw control, were installed in an incorrect orientation. As the error affected the redundant sensors as well as the primary ones, the rocket was left with no yaw control, which resulted in the failure. Telemetry data also indicated that a pad umbilical had detached prematurely, suggesting that the Proton may have launched several tenths of a second early, before the engines reached full thrust.”

Taking this clue, we conducted a relevant keyword search. This led us to a report published on 2 July 2013 that contained an image similar to the screenshots from the viral video. 

The report read, “A Russian rocket crash yesterday (July 1) was likely caused by an emergency shutdown of the booster’s engines 17 seconds into the flight, according to news reports.

The unmanned Russian Proton-M rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstanat 10:38 p.m. EDT (0238 GMT). The crash of the 17-story booster destroyed three onboard navigation satellites, which were worth almost $200 million. Video of the rocket crash from Russian state-run Rossiya-24 television shows the vehicle veering off course shortly after liftoff, and then breaking apart in mid-air and exploding in a fiery blaze once it hit the ground.

The rocket was carrying 600 tons of highly toxic heptyl, amyl and kerosene fuel, which were spilled when the booster was destroyed, Russian news service Ria Novosti reported. The burning fuel gives off a poisonous smoke, but officials said the cloud was being partially contained by rain at the launch site.”

Other reports and videos can be read here and here.

This makes it clear that the first clip is an old video showing a Russian Rocket that crashed in 2013.

Second Clip

A reverse image search of the screenshots from the second clip led us to a YouTube channel where a longer version was uploaded on 29 October 2014. The caption read, “ANTARES EXPLODES!!! Panic at the press site! Orbital’s rocket blows up”

The viral clip can be seen from the timestamp 0:20.

Taking this clue, we conducted a relevant keyword search. This led us to a similar video on the NASA website. The description read, “The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard suffers a catastrophic anomaly moments after launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014, at NASA’s Wallops Flight. Shortly after lift-off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A at 6:22 p.m. (EDT), the vehicle suffered a catastrophic failure.”

Another video report can be seen below.

This makes it clear that the video is from a failed NASA Antares rocket launch in 2014.

Conclusion 

From our investigation, we can say that the claim is false. The viral video doesn’t show two recent failed Chinese military surveillance rocket launches. The first clip is from a Russian Proton M rocket failure from 2013, while the second clip is from a failed NASA Antares rocket launch from 2014.