Innospace's rocket crashes in first commercial launch in Brazil; shares tumble

Dec 23 (Reuters) - South Korean satellite launch company Innospace on Monday launched the first commercial rocket from Brazil's Alcantara Space Center, ​a milestone for the firm and Brazilian aerospace ambitions that ‌ended with a crash.

The HANBIT-Nano vehicle lifted off at 10:13 p.m. Brazil time (0113 GMT), ‌five days later than originally scheduled.

Just two minutes after the launch, a live feed within the official livestream showed a message noting an "anomaly" was experienced during the flight. The livestream ended immediately afterward.

According to Brazil's air force, ⁠the rocket began its vertical ‌trajectory as planned, but an issue prompted a crash into the ground. Officials and firefighters were sent to ‍analyse the wreckage and the collision area, the air force added in a statement.

Innospace has not provided further information about the launch and did not immediately respond ​to a request for comment.

The firm's South Korea-listed shares fell about ‌24% in midday trading after the crash, the biggest intraday decline since August.

The launch was delayed from Wednesday after an anomaly in a cooling unit component of the first-stage oxidizer feed system during final inspections, and again on Friday for a few hours due to unfavourable weather conditions.

In ⁠a previous statement, Innospace said it replaced ​the component on the launch pad, allowing ​the Spaceward mission to proceed within its December 16-22 launch window. It was launching eight registered cargoes, including five small ‍satellites, for undisclosed ⁠customers.

The Brazilian air force and space agency offered operational support for the launch in coordination with key agencies.

In March 2023, Innospace had ⁠launched its test vehicle HANBIT-TLV from the same facility in northeast Brazil to verify ‌the performance of its 150 kN hybrid rocket engine.

(Reporting by ‌Fernando Cardoso; Editing by Jamie Freed)