Tag: Chang Zheng 2C
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Launch Preview: Russia to debut Soyuz-5; Falcon 9 and Atlas V to launch internet satellites
The United States, Russia, China, New Zealand, and Norway are all set to host launches during another busy week of spaceflight. SpaceX is set to launch three missions from its Florida and California launch facilities, while the United Launch Alliance is scheduled to launch Amazon Leo satellites on its Atlas V rocket toward the end…
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Launch Roundup: Starship, Ariane 6 and telescope missions delayed, lunar lander flies
Several significant missions were scheduled for this week, including the third lunar lander to launch in just over a month. The Intuitive Machines-2 (IM-2) mission will explore and analyze the Moon’s subsurface, testing new technologies and paving the way for future lunar missions. NASA is also set to launch its SPHEREx observatory, which will map…
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Launch Roundup: Falcon 9 launches continue, Rocket Lab to launch two Electrons, Russia to fly to ISS
Following the sixth flight of SpaceX’s Starship on Tuesday, eight additional orbital launches were planned worldwide. Rocket Lab launched an experimental hypersonic testbed payload using a modified Electron from Wallops. What’s more, a second Electron launched a batch of nanosatellites into low-Earth orbit from New Zealand less than 24 hours later. Meanwhile, SpaceX continued to…
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China Roundup: Tianlong-3 static fire anomaly, Chang’e 6 sample return, and next-generation rockets
Throughout the last few weeks, several events in Chinese spaceflight have created international headlines. After launching a Chang Zheng 2C rocket that would later fall onto an inhabited village, a Tianlong-3 rocket was unexpectedly released during a static fire test and would crash in an area close to the launch site. However, not all of…
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Launch Roundup: Electron launches for the 50th time; Falcon 9 returns to normal operations
Concluding a rare week that was void of any launches and riddled with scrubs, the spaceflight industry looks to return to the planned course of action with four launches from all over the world. This week, the 50th launch of Electron has taken flight, and SpaceX and CASC continue to dominate the launch calendar. SpaceX…
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Commercial rockets spotted amidst Chinese launch tripleheader
China is starting to increase its launch cadence again after a slow start to 2023. This week saw three launches in the Chang Zheng family while several more non-Chang Zheng vehicles were spotted on launch pads at Jiuquan. Satellite Imagery of Jiuquan Recently published satellite imagery showed new Chinese commercial vehicles on multiple pads at…
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China launches two satellites following EVA at Tiangong station
The Chinese space program has resumed launches after going over a month without a single launch due to the Chinese New Year and Spring Festival holiday period. On Thursday, Feb. 23, at 7:49 PM Beijing time (11:49 UTC), Chang Zheng 3B Y93 flew successfully from pad LC-2 at Xichang in southwest China. This flight, the…
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APStar, Yaogan, and Shiyan payloads lift off from China
China has launched two more missions to orbit, bringing its launch count in January to four launches already. First, a Chang Zheng 2C launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC) on Thursday at 18:10 UTC, carrying APStar-6E. On Friday, a Chang Zheng 2D was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC), carrying the…
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China launches four observation satellites in 48 hours
In a span of fewer than 48 hours, China has launched four observation satellites, three of them intended for military reconnaissance, and one intended for environmental monitoring. These launches were both conducted by Chang Zheng 2 family vehicles, the environmental satellite from Taiyuan in the north, and the military launch from Xichang in southwest China.…
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Chang Zheng 2C launches GeeSAT autonomous driving navigation satellites
China’s Chang Zheng 2C rocket has launched nine GeeSAT-1 navigation satellites Thursday as part of the Geely-01 constellation. After lifting off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 04:00 UTC (12:00 Beijing Time), the rocket successfully deployed its payload into Low Earth orbit. The GeeSAT-1 satellites were developed by Chinese commercial company Geespace, which describes…