Tag: LandSpace
-
China’s 2023: closing out a busy year amidst preparations for lunar missions
Following China’s impressive 2022, the country once again managed to launch over 60 times in a calendar year. While the year lacked high-profile missions, more are on the horizon as China focuses on the Moon. The launches While the year is not fully over yet, China already managed to build up an impressive manifest for…
-
Chinese spaceplane takes flight again; iSpace and LandSpace prepare to hop
China is aiming for a strong finish to 2023, with several high-profile launches happening in a short period. At the same time, both LandSpace, and iSpace have been directing their attention to reusable rocket stages, with vertical takeoff and landing testing of pathfinder prototypes. China’s reusable spaceplane – Chang Zheng 2F/T With the American X-37B…
-
ZhuQue-2 launches on third flight
LandSpace has launched its third ZhuQue-2 rocket on Friday, Dec. 8, at 23:40 UTC. The launch, just like the first two, took place from Launch Site 96 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. Earlier this year, ZhuQue-2 performed its second launch, in which the rocket successfully reached orbit. After the initial launch in…
-
ZhuQue-2 prepares for flight three; LandSpace announces larger rocket
LandSpace, the company that launched the first methane-based rocket, ZhuQue-2, successfully to orbit, was all over the news in the last few weeks. Signs intensified about an imminent third launch of the methane rocket, while the company also detailed ZhuQue-3: its upcoming stainless steel rocket. ZhuQue-2 Launch 3 Signs of an upcoming launch of ZhuQue-2…
-
Chinese company wins race for first methane-fueled rocket to orbit
A commercial Chinese firm named LandSpace launched its Zhuque-2 rocket late Tuesday and made history as the first company to send a methane-fueled launcher into orbit, beating a bevy of US vehicles to the milestone. LandSpace launched the Zhuque-2 rocket at 9 pm ET Tuesday (01:00 UTC Wednesday) from the Jiuquan spaceport, a military-run facility…
-
LandSpace claims win in the methane race to orbit via second ZhuQue-2 launch
LandSpace launched its methane-based ZhuQue-2 rocket on Wednesday. This was the rocket’s second launch after its failed maiden flight in December 2022. Initial claims from the company noted a mission success, marking the first methalox rocket to reach orbit. The ZhuQue-2 rocket ZhuQue-2 (Redbird 2 in English) is a rocket designed by the Chinese private company…
-
China outlines ambitious plans for Moon landing; ZhuQue-2 prepares to launch again
Over the last few weeks, China has remained busy with both launching rockets and announcing news, as the country outlined its ambitious plans for its upcoming Lunar program, in which they hope to land a taikonaut on the surface of the Moon by 2030. What’s more, China launched a rideshare mission on an all-solid rocket…
-
China launches resupply mission, lands space plane, and readies methane rocket
China plans to continue its ongoing supply chain for the Tiangong Space Station (TSS) by launching the Tianzhou-6 mission. The launch occurred at 13:25 UTC on May 10 and lofted a Tianzhou capsule on top of a Chang Zheng 7 (Long March 7). See Also Chinese Launchers Forum NSF Store Click here to Join L2…
-
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…
-
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…