Australian rocket test with Vegemite payload crashes after 14-second flight

Gilmour Space Technologies tested an orbital rocket carrying a jar of Vegemite, achieving 14 seconds of flight. Photo / @GilmourSpace via X

An Australian aerospace company has celebrated the short-lived test launch of an orbital rocket carrying a jar of Vegemite in its nose cone.

After waiting 18 months for the right launch window, the three-stage Eris rocket achieved about 14 seconds of flight before sputtering to Earth in a plume of smoke.

It was built by Gilmour Space Technologies, which is vying to send the first locally built rocket into orbit from Australian soil.

“I’m so relieved, you couldn’t believe,” chief executive Adam Gilmour told AFP.

“I was so nervous about it getting off the pad, that when it did I screamed in pure joy.”

Video showed the rocket barely cleared the top of the launch tower, briefly hovering above the ground before running out of steam.

The 23m vehicle – designed to launch small satellites into low-Earth orbit – was launched from Abbot Point, about 1000km up from the Queensland capital Brisbane.

The payload for the test flight was a jar of Vegemite, a popular Australian toast topping, strapped inside the rocket’s nose cone.

Gilmour said preparations for a second test flight were already under way, with a view to launching within the next “six to eight months”.

“It’s huge what you can prove with just 10 to 15 seconds of flight time,” he said.

He added: “I’m sorry to say the Vegemite didn’t make it.”

The company, which has 230 employees, hopes to start commercial launches in late 2026 or early 2027.

-Agence France-Presse