Tag: Long March
-
Beidou-3 G4 gets launched and Chinese Raptor gets tested, as it receives its own name
One of China’s biggest rockets flew again this Wednesday. Chang Zheng 3B/E successfully launched the Beidou-3 G4 payload at 2:49 AM UTC. The launch was conducted from launch complex 2 of the China Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC). This is already the third flight of the massive first-generation launcher. Beidou-3 G4 is a geostationary Earth…
-
Chinese cargo ship launches to resupply space station
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated after docking of Tianzhou 6 with the Tiangong space station. Six kerosene-fueled engines on the Long March 7 rocket generated 1.6 million pounds of thrust at full power. Credit: CCTV China’s space station received delivery of fresh supplies, experiments, and fuel after the launch of the Tianzhou 6 cargo ship Wednesday aboard a…
-
China launches CZ-8 on 22 satellite rideshare mission
China launched the second Chang Zheng 8 on Sunday from LC-201 at the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center. The liftoff occurred at 03:06 UTC and was confirmed a success an hour later. The mission flew to a Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) and took a variety of payloads to space on a rideshare mission. The full weight of…
-
After milestone 2021, China’s space program to continue at pace in 2022
The year 2021 has been a historic one for China’s space program. The country achieved a successful landing on Mars, started on-orbit assembly of the modular Chinese Space Station, and has a wide range of orbital-class launch vehicles entering service and under development. Looking back at the launch statistics of 2021, China managed an average…
-
Chang Zheng 3B lifts Shijian 21 to orbit
Without any prior announcements, China launched another Chang Zheng 3B/E rocket with the Shijian 21 payload to Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO). The rocket took off at 01:27 UTC on October 24 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center’s LC-2. The launch was called a success two hours later and it was confirmed that the payload, Shijian…
-
China tests fairing recovery technologies on Long March 2C launch with four satellites
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) launched a Long March/Chang Zheng 2C rocket on July 19 at 00:19 UTC (8:19 AM Beijing time) from LC-3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The launch carried three Yaogan-30 remote sensing satellites and the Tianqi-15 communications satellite. In addition to successfully delivering the satellites to orbit,…
-
China’s Long March 6 launches five satellites
China successfully launched a Chang Zheng 6 rocket from LC-16 at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 11:59 UTC (7:59 PM Beijing time) on Friday July 9. This launch is the sixth launch of the Chang Zheng 6 (CZ-6), also known as the Long March 6, and the 379th launch of a Long March rocket.…
-
Chinese Long March rocket launches oceanography satellite
A Long March 4B rocket takes off with China’s Haiyang 2D oceanography satellite. Credit: Xinhua A Long March 4B rocket successfully launched an oceanography satellite Wednesday from northwestern China, hours before officials at a different spaceport scrubbed the planned launch of a cargo ship to deliver supplies to the Chinese space station. China’s unpiloted Tianzhou…
-
China launches Haiyang-2D Oceanography Satellite from Jiuquan
A Chinese Long March 4B rocket took a Haiyang oceanography satellite to orbit early Wednesday morning. Liftoff from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center occurred approximately 12:03 PM local time (04:03 UTC) on 19 May. The Haiyang-2D satellite, the fourth in the Haiyang-2 series and eighth Haiyang satellite overall, was deployed into sun synchronous orbit to…
-
NASA chief criticizes China for uncontrolled rocket re-entry
The core stage of China’s Long March 5B rocket, seen here before launch, re-entered the atmosphere over the Arabian Peninsula and Indian Ocean late Saturday. Credit: Xinhua NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Saturday that China is failing to meet “responsible standards” on space debris after a massive Long March rocket stage fell back to Earth…