INTELSAT 708

Maiden flight of China's Long March 3B, carrying the Intelsat 708 communications satellite. A guidance failure two seconds after liftoff sent the rocket crashing into a nearby village, destroying the $125 million satellite and killing at least six people on the ground.

Outcome

Failure

Orbit

Direct-GEO

Geostationary orbit

Payload to orbit

Did not reach orbit

Flight

1st

of 24 Long March 3B flights

Date and time

14 February 1996, 19:01 UTC

Rocket

Long March 3B

Builder

CASC

Launch site

Launch Complex 2 (LC-2), Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Payload

Communications

Launches in 1996

8th of 77