Tag: Jiuquan
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China launches Shenzhou-16 mission to the Chinese Space Station
China launched its crewed Shenzhou-16 mission to the Tiangong Space Station on Tuesday, May 30, at 1:31 AM UTC. The Shenzhou spacecraft launched atop a Chang Zheng 2F (CZ-2F) rocket to carry three taikonauts to the station. The arrival of the Shenzhou-16 crew will mark the beginning of the handover from the Shenzhou-15 to the…
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Chinese Tianlong-2 successfully debuts from Jiuquan
The Tianlong-2 rocket by Space Pioneer successfully performed its debut flight on April 2 and 08:48 UTC. In a rare occurrence, the company’s first orbital flight performed well, reaching its targeted orbit. The launch was conducted at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. This launch makes Tianlong-2 the first RP-1-based private rocket from China…
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LandSpace readies for second flight of ZhuQue-2 amid launch salvo
LandSpace has confirmed that the second methane-based ZhuQue-2 is fully assembled as the company gears up for its second launch campaign. After the initial first flight failure, this could mean a second attempt to get a methane-fueled rocket to orbit is approaching. While the debut flight of Tianlong-2 is slipping into April, China still launched…
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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 kicks off 2023 campaign with launch doubleheader
With two launches now under its belt, China joins the US as the second nation to have launched to orbit in 2023. First, the Shijian 23 payload lifted off at 22:00 UTC on Sunday onboard a Chang Zheng 7A from Wenchang. Just seven hours later, Gushenxing-1 carried the “Give Me Five” rideshare mission to orbit…
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Chinese Zhuque-2 fails during first methalox orbital launch attempt
The first attempt to launch an orbital methane rocket was not successful. China’s LandSpace launched the Zhuque-2 rocket at around 08:30 UTC to a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) from Jiuquan. The rocket failed to reach the desired orbit, falling short of orbital velocity by about 2 km/s. From videos posted on Chinese social media, it seems…
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China’s busy year continues with four launches in six days
With Monday’s launch of the Shiyan-20A satellite aboard a Chang Zheng 4C rocket, China has rounded out a busy few days which have seen four orbital launches – including the debut of one new rocket and the first successful flight of another. With just under three weeks remaining, 2022 has already been a record year…
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China finishing busy Space station year with Shenzhou-15
China has launched the Shenzhou-15 mission to the Tiangong space station on Tuesday, Nov. 29, during an instantaneous launch window at 15:08 UTC from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC). It launched three taikonauts to the station to replace the current crew of the Shenzhou-14 mission, using a Chang Zheng 2F (CZ-2F) rocket and launching…