{"id":16813,"date":"2014-11-21T17:25:03","date_gmt":"2014-11-21T09:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/china-launches-for-the-second-time-in-24-hours\/"},"modified":"2014-11-21T17:25:03","modified_gmt":"2014-11-21T09:25:03","slug":"china-launches-for-the-second-time-in-24-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/china-launches-for-the-second-time-in-24-hours\/","title":{"rendered":"China launches for the second time in 24 hours"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_1368\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1368\" style=\"width: 621px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1368\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Kuaizhou.jpg\" alt=\"A file photo -- apparently edited -- posted on Chinese social media of a Kuaizhou rocket launch. Credit: CASIC via Weibo\" width=\"621\" height=\"414\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Kuaizhou.jpg 800w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Kuaizhou-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Kuaizhou-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 621px) 100vw, 621px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1368\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A file photo \u2014 apparently edited \u2014 posted on Chinese social media by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp. of a Kuaizhou rocket launch. Credit: CASIC via Weibo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A mysterious new Chinese rocket lifted off Friday and put a small satellite several hundred miles above Earth, marking China\u2019s second space launch in less than 24 hours.<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s state-run media outlets released few details on the mission, which launched from the Jiuquan space center in northwest China\u2019s Gobi desert.<\/p>\n<p>The Kuaizhou 2 spacecraft launched at 0637 GMT (1:37 a.m. EST) Friday, or 2:37 p.m. Beijing time, China\u2019s official Xinhua news agency reported.<\/p>\n<p>The Jiuquan space base was the starting point for another Chinese rocket launch less than 24 hours earlier, when a Long March 2D rocket placed a military reconnaissance payload int orbit.<\/p>\n<p>The booster used on Friday\u2019s launch was not from China\u2019s workhorse Long March rocket family. It was from a new line of launchers named Kuaizhou \u2014 the same designation used for its payload \u2014 and Friday\u2019s flight marked the second liftoff of the rocket after an inaugural launch in September 2013.<\/p>\n<p>Kuaizhou means \u201cspeedy vessel\u201d in Chinese.<\/p>\n<p>The satellite \u201cwill be used to monitor natural disasters and provide disaster-relief information,\u201d Xinhua reported.<\/p>\n<p>The government-run news agency did not release any photos of the liftoff, a departure from standard procedure after a successful launch.<\/p>\n<p>The Kuaizhou launcher is composed of three solid-fueled rocket stages and a liquid-fueled fourth stage that is part of the spacecraft it is launching, according to Sinodefence.com, a British website specializing in Chinese military matters.<\/p>\n<p>It is capable of launching a satellite weighing nearly 1,000 pounds into an orbit 300 miles above Earth, according to the website.<\/p>\n<p>Experts believe the Kuaizhou rocket can launch from a wheeled mobile transporter within days of call-up. The mobility of the system \u2014 derived from China\u2019s strategic missile program \u2014 also allows the rocket to launch from many locations.<\/p>\n<p>The Kuaizhou launcher resembles a new \u201crapid response\u201d rocket unveiled by China last week. The FT-1 rocket described by Chinese officials is solid-fueled, mobile and could be used to replace damaged or destroyed satellites on short notice.<\/p>\n<p>Friday\u2019s liftoff marked the 12th Chinese space launch of the year.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A file photo \u2014 apparently edited \u2014 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\u2019s second space launch in less than [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[135,1578,2091],"class_list":["post-16813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-china","tag-jiuquan","tag-kuaizhou"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16813"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16813\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}