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The first fully Australian-made rocket, the ERIS-1, returned to Earth 14 seconds after takeoff. The launch was the country’s first attempt at orbital flight for the first time in almost 54 years.
On Tuesday (July 29th), on 8:35am local time (6:35pm ET), Australian private company Gilmour Space Technologies launched its first ERIS class rocket from Bowen Orbital Space Port on the Queensland coast. However, just 23 seconds after the rocket ignited the engine, and just 14 seconds after the lift-off, the spacecraft returned to the ground.
The launch video shows that the rocket first took off as expected, and all four engines were produced properly. However, after clearing the launch pads, the ascent quickly stalled, returning to the ground and disappearing into a cloud of smoke, and began to slide sideways before landing on that side. There were no obvious explosions, but the rocket quickly exploded into flames.
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Approximately 82 feet (25 meters) tall, the ERIS-1 was the first spacecraft fully constructed by an Australian company. This was also the country’s first orbital launch attempt since October 1971, according to AP News, when the UK launched spacecraft from a spacecraft in southern Australia into space.
The launch was originally scheduled for March, but was pushed back due to bad weather caused by Cyclone Alfred. According to Live Science’s sister site Space.com, part of the payload was discarded again in mid-May when it “popped out” the launch pad rocket.
Related: Watching a private German rocket explodes during launch attempts of first orbit from European soils (video)
According to an emailed statement from Gilmour Space, no one was injured during the crash and there was no “an environmental impact.” However, the company has yet to disclose what went wrong.
Despite achieving just 14 seconds of flight time, representatives from Gilmore Space claimed that the launch was a huge success, describing it as a “big step” and “a great result” in a post on Social Platform X.
testflight1 – Lift-off 🚀Today, Ellis has become the first #AustralianMade Orbital rocket to be launched from Australian soil. Flying for up to 14 seconds, with 23S engine burn. Team Safe, Data at Hand, Eyes of TestFlight 2 (many of the photos and videos coming from the media.) pic.twitter.com/l9ypsuaibrjuly 30, 2025
“Getting off the pad and going out of the flight is a huge step forward for the new rocket program,” Adam Gilmore, co-founder and CEO of Gilmore Space, said in a statement. “This was the first real test of our rocket systems, propulsion technology, and space ports. And it proved that much of what we built works.”
Eris Rockets is designed to fire 660 pounds (300 kilograms) of material into Earth orbit, about 15 times lower than SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. Their main payload is probably a small communications satellite, and is also developed by Gilmore Space.
It is currently unknown when the next ERIS mission will be released.