Tag: China
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China launches spaceplane for second time as part of double header
Two launches were conducted from China in the last 24 hours on what was a busy day in spaceflight. The day started at 03:08 UTC with the launch of the Ludi Shengtai Xitong Tanjiance (TECIS – Terrestrial Ecosystem Carbon Inventory Satellite) payload, on board a Chang Zheng 4B. Later, a second flight of the Chinese…
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Chang Zheng 2D launches from Xichang with Yaogan-35 satellites
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) launched a trio of Yaogan 35 military reconnaissance satellites to orbit on the morning of Friday, July 29, as a Chang Zheng 2D rocket flew out of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. Liftoff took place at 13:28 UTC. Yaogan Weixing – translating to “remote sensing satellite” and…
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Zhongke-1A makes a successful debut from Jiuquan
The CAS Space Zhongke-1A, an all-solid four-stage small to medium-lift launch vehicle, made its first-ever launch at 04:12 UTC on Wednesday, July 27. The rocket successfully flew from Jiuquan in the remote Inner Mongolia desert region of northwest China. CAS Space, also known as Zhongke Aerospace, is a spinoff company partially owned by the Chinese…
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Chang Zheng 5B launches Wentian Laboratory Module
China has launched the Wentian Laboratory Cabin Module on Sunday, July 24 at 06:22 UTC out of the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China. The module is one of two planned for launch this year to China’s Tiangong space station, with the second being the Mengtian module which is slated to launch in October. Both…
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China lofts new Tianlian-2 data relay satellite from Xichang
China has successfully launched the third satellite of their Tianlian 2 series of data and relay satellites. Liftoff occurred from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in inner China at 16:30 UTC on July 12, 2022, utilizing a Chang Zheng 3B/E (CZ-3B/E) rocket. Tianlian, translated as “sky chain,” is the name of the Chinese data relay…
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China launches third Gaofen 12 mission on CZ-4C
China launched the Gaofen-12 03 mission on board a Chang Zheng 4C today at 15:46 UTC. The launch occurred from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) in China and was confirmed to be a success minutes after liftoff. The satellite launched to a Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO). Gaofen (meaning “high resolution”) is the name for remote…
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China completes second launch this week with Yaogan 35-2
A second launch out of China this week lifted off at 02:22 UTC from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center with three satellites of the Yaogan family aboard a Chang Zheng 2D. The satellites, called Yaogan 35 Group 2, are possibly related to another triplet of payloads that launched in November 2021 from the same spaceport…
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Kuaizhou-1A returns to flight with a mysterious payload
This morning at 02:08 UTC, Kuaizhou-1A successfully returned to flight with the Tianxing-1 mission. The launch was conducted from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. This mission comes after the GeeSAT-1A&1B mission, which launched in December 2021 on the same rocket configuration and failed. The payload went to a 275 x 292 km orbit,…
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China launches three LEO communication satellites ahead of launch surge
China launched three payloads onboard a Chang Zheng 2C rocket today at 10:30 UTC and confirmed the success of the launch an hour later. For this flight, the additional Yuanzheng-1S third stage was used. The launch was conducted from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) and the rocket flew to a low Earth orbit (LEO).…
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Hyperbola-1, China’s first privately-owned rocket, fails in 2nd consecutive return to flight mission
i-Space, a private Chinese launch provider, attempted to return to flight with the Hyperbola-1 (SQX-1) vehicle early Friday morning. The Hyperbola-1 has had a troubling past, failing to deliver its payloads to orbit, now, on three of its four flights. Onboard the rocket was the Jilin-1 Mofang-01A(R), a replacement satellite for the Jilin Mofang-01A, which…