Watch: China's Long March 3B Rocket Survives Lightning Strike During Launch

China on Thursday (Jul 23) launched its workhorse Long March-3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, carrying a communications relay satellite to the geostationary orbit. Approximately 30 seconds into the flight, a sudden bolt of lightning struck the rocket, leading to stunned reactions from the large crowds gathered nearby to watch the dramatic launch event.

Videos of the incident going viral on social media show the rocket spearing into the atmosphere in the damp weather conditions. As the strike lit up the sky, the onlookers were left highly concerned about the overall safety of the spacecraft during its critical initial ascent phase.

However, despite the strike, the rocket managed to successfully deliver the satellite to its orbit as planned, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). The satellite is expected to help relay communications to the Tiangong Space Station and other crewed missions.

"At 20:00 on July 23, the Long March 3B carrier rocket was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, and subsequently sent the Tianlian II-06 satellite into its predetermined orbit. The launch mission was a complete success," read the statement.

Social media users were impressed that the rocket managed to hold its own despite the rough start to its journey.

"Honestly, I'm impressed it held up well through that. They are built for this type of situation but to see it play out on video is really awesome," said one user while another added: "That looked so cool and scary at the same time."

A third commented: "Well, they could have picked a better weather window. It feels like it was set up for a situation like this."

Check The Viral Clip Here:

Holy shit, the Chinese CZ-3B rocket launched in the rain and got struck by lightning.

Does China not check the weather before launching rockets? https://t.co/PzGk4jfkcG pic.twitter.com/WUsuQbpci5

— Lunar Citizen (@LunarCitizens) July 23, 2026

Also Read | Ukrainian Woman Reveals How Housewarming Parties Differ In India And Europe: 'Completely Different World'

Previous Instances

This is not the first time lightning has struck a rocket during the launch. Severe hazards for NASA due to lightning have been well documented. One major incident occurred during the 1969 launch of the Apollo 12 mission when lightning briefly knocked out vital spacecraft electronics. Fortunately, the astronauts regained control.

On March 26, 1987, the unmanned Atlas Centaur 67 was struck by a lightning current which altered memory in the digital flight control computer. This glitch resulted in the generation of a hard-over yaw command, which caused an excessive angle of attack, large dynamic loads, and ultimately the breakup of the vehicle.