Things turned awry in a routine rocket engine test, producing a towering inferno as the launch pad went ablaze during the experiment. Expected to simulate the moment of a rocket under thrust sampling, fire just sprang out from the side of the device as an explosion brought more focus on the experiment. The team is now set to investigate.

At the SaxaVord Spaceport on the island of Unst, a rocket test has simply gone dramatically wrong on the Shetland Islands. The test was supposed to simulate the energy needed to actually propel a rocket, but all went drastically wrong. The flames shot dramatically sideways, leading to an enormous explosion—all caught on tape by our BBC crew from a safe distance across the bay in order to record the shockwave that covered the whole island.

By Monday evening, a bunch of us was stationed about a mile from the launch pad as the sun started to set. The idea of the test was to simulate the propulsion that would be required to get a rocket into orbit, without actually launching anything. Unfortunately, things went south very quickly.

The rocket in question was the 30 meter tall, three-staged RFA One, manufactured by the German firm Rocket Factory Augsburg. It will be used to put things, among them satellites, into space. RFA hopes to become the first company to launch an inauspicious, vertical rocket from the UK, and its spaceport on Shetland is licensed for 30 launches annually.

Everything seemed to go well right before the test: our crew watched all the preparations from a safe spot. We observed frost forming on the rocket stage and white clouds rising from under the engine, signifying the test was about to begin. If need be our team, right before ignition, could cancel the test.

However, this changed in an instant as flames started spewing out from the side of the engine stand and not the intended downflow. Seconds later, an auditory shockwave hit us, and sparks went flying in every direction. The tower exploded into flames with rapid pops and dark puffs of smoke.

RFA would be trying to hire all nine to fire simultaneously. This is actually quite a complex thing to do, since, as is typical, they should all fire at one time and hence work together. Professor Malcolm Macdonald, from the University of Strathclyde, continued on and explained that getting a whole lot of rocket engines to fire all at the same time is no easy task. Each engine exerts some sort of vibration and tends to interfere with its neighbor, almost making it impossible to get them all to work properly.

The test is understood to have been significant ahead of RFA’s first planned flight sometimes later this year. Even though RFA failed this test, the team vows to find out what would have happened otherwise. The team will be examining camera footage around the site and further data to see just what may have been the reason behind the fire.

It tells us the problem with rocket testing. The UK’s first satellite mission, launched from Cornwall just last year, failed when a Virgin Orbit jet lost the rocket it had released. SpaceX has also had some issues when a Starship spacecraft exploded not long after launch. From these events, it can be seen that no matter how experienced a team is, there are issues to be surged with space missions.

With a mean age of only 29, this crew now comprises the average rocket scientist team. RFA knows, of course, it isn’t quite what Yuri would have wanted, but they also realize that rockets simply have to be tested if mankind is to develop reliable space technology.

RFA’s statement released reiterated that they understand the danger and will learn from the test. They will come back to work normally once they take stock of the situation. They also declared that redressal measures are automatically triggered following the incident.

Conclusively, the rocket test in Shetland was an intense reminder of the toughness of space exploration. While the spontaneous flames and explosions were meant to be improbable, they quoted for the thorough meaning of tests. Every failure helps but gets one that much closer to some big successful space launches. The road to space is not easy, but through all these tests, we are one step closer to the stars.