On Sunday, the 62-foot-tall Ceres-1 Y-19 rocket by Chinese space firm Galactic Energy took off from northwest China at around 11:02 p.m. EST via Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
The mission carried two satellites for China's Jilin-1 commercial Earth-observation constellation, and a craft developed by Zhongbei University intended for deployment in low-Earth orbit.
"We offer our sincerest apologies to the mission's customer and to everyone who supports Galactic Energy," said the Beijing-based company in a statement.
It's first three stages and separations operated as planned.
But the rocket's fourth stage ignited then burned for over 500 seconds before a premature shutdown prevented China's satellites from reaching orbit.
The Ceres-1 rocket made its debut November 2020 and was the second reported failure in 22 missions for Ceres-1.
Galactic, which is one of China's top private launch companies, completed around 22 successful launches with some 85 satellites sent into space for 27 commercial clients.
It arrived as Chinese space officials delayed the return of its Shenzhou 20 mission from China's Tiangong space station.
"We will draw lessons from the mission setback and continue to optimize rocket design and quality-management systems," Galactic added Sunday.
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