Tag: China

  • China launches for the second time in 24 hours

    A file photo — apparently edited — posted on Chinese social media by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp. of a Kuaizhou rocket launch. Credit: CASIC via Weibo A mysterious new Chinese rocket lifted off Friday and put a small satellite several hundred miles above Earth, marking China’s second space launch in less than…

  • Spy satellite launched to serve Chinese government

    The Long March 2D rocket lifted off at 0712 GMT (2:12 a.m. EST) Thursday from the Jiuquan space base in northwest China. Credit: Xinhua A Long March 2D rocket blasted off from a remote space base in northwest China on Thursday and climbed into orbit with a clandestine satellite to collect intelligence for the Chinese…

  • Long March 2D lofts Yaogan Weixing-24 for China

    Long March 2D lofts Yaogan Weixing-24 for China

    The Chinese have launched yet another spy satellite, this time via a Long March 2D rocket. The launch of Yaogan Weixing-24 “remote sensing” satellite comes just six days after they orbited the Yaogan-23 spacecraft. This latest launch occurred at 0712UTC on Thursday, lifting off from the 603 Launch Pad of the LC43 Launch Complex at…

  • Chinese military satellite launched by Long March rocket

    The Long March 2C rocket lifts off at 2:53 a.m. Beijing time Saturday (1853 GMT Friday) from the Taiyuan launch center. Credit: Xinhua China launched a Long March rocket last week with a satellite Western analysts believe will conduct all-weather global radar surveillance for the Chinese military. The Long March 2C rocket lifted off at…

  • Chinese probe returns from flight around the moon

    Ground teams in China inspect the a space capsule after its return from a flight around the moon. Credit: Xinhua/Ren Junchuan Completing an eight-day test flight around the moon to verify technologies for a planned lunar sample return mission, an unpiloted Chinese space capsule re-entered Earth’s atmosphere at blazing speed Friday and parachuted to a…

  • China launches third space mission in a week

    A Long March 2C rocket lifted off at 0659 GMT (2:59 a.m. EDT; 2:59 p.m. Beijing time) Monday with a Chinese military satellite. Credit: Xinhua China put an experimental Shijian military satellite into orbit Monday on top of a Long March rocket, marking the third Chinese space launch in a week. The Shijian 11-08 spacecraft…

  • First commercial mission to the moon launched from China

    Artist’s concept of the Manfred Memorial Moon Mission, which remains attached to the upper stage of a Long March 3C rocket for a flight around the moon. Credit: LuxSpace A modest privately-funded instrument package built by a company in Luxembourg became the first commercial to the moon to get off the ground with a fiery…

  • Chinese probe launched on round-trip flight to the moon

    A Chinese Long March 3C rocket lifted off at 1800 GMT (2 p.m. EDT; 2 a.m. Beijing time). Credit: Xinhua China launched a demonstrator probe Thursday on a round-trip flight around the moon to test out a heat shield and landing capsule planned for use on a lunar sample return mission in 2017. The unmanned…

  • China launches another secretive Shijian-11 mission

    China launches another secretive Shijian-11 mission

    The Chinese have orbited a new satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Sunday. Utilizing their Long March 2C (Chang Zheng 2C) launch vehicle, the mission involved another of the secretive Shijian-11 (SJ-11) series of “experimental satellites”. Launch took place at 05:13 UTC according to Chinese reports. Chinese Launch: This is the seventh in…

  • Long March 4B lofts Yaogan-21 in surprise launch

    Long March 4B lofts Yaogan-21 in surprise launch

    The Chinese have conducted another surprise launch, this time with the Long March 4B rocket reported to have lofted a new satellite in the Yaogan Weixing series. The Yaogan-21 satellite was launched at 03:22 UTC on Monday from the LC9 launch complex at the Taiyuan satellite Launch Center. Chinese Launch: As usual for this type of…