The Long March 7A rocket was carrying the ChinaSat-4B satellite when the incident unfolded. A Chinese rocket set to launch a communication satellite into orbit exploded seconds after liftoff on Monday. The Long March 7A rocket carrying the ChinaSat-4B satellite erupted into massive fireball after developing an in-flight anomaly after blasting off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site on the island of Hainan on Monday night. Videos surfaced on social media showed the rocket conducting a successful lift-off, which was followed by explosion roughly 85 seconds after the take-off. Both the rocket and the ChinaSat-4B satellite were destroyed in the explosion.