On July 23, 2026, at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China, a Long March 3B rocket launched under a particularly stormy sky. Seconds after leaving the launch pad, a spectacular lightning strike hit the launch vehicle during its ascent. Despite this impressive impact, the rocket continued its trajectory normally, and the mission proceeded as planned. Space launch vehicles are indeed designed to withstand this type of event, even though launches in stormy weather remain exceptional. Moreover, this was not the first time a rocket had been struck by lightning: the Saturn V rocket of the Apollo 12 mission in 1969 and a Soyuz-2 rocket in 2019 had already experienced a similar phenomenon without compromising the success of their missions.