Long March – Spaceflight Now

China launches ambitious mission to return lunar material to Earth

November 23, 2020

A heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket hurled a 9-ton Chinese spacecraft toward the moon Monday on a 23-day mission attempting to return lunar samples to Earth for the first time in 44 years.

Live coverage: China launches lunar sample return mission

November 23, 2020

A Chinese Long March 5 rocket launched at 3:30 p.m. EST (2030 GMT) Monday with the Chang’e 5 mission, a robotic expedition to return samples from the moon to Earth.

China set to attempt first lunar sample return mission in four decades

November 22, 2020

Chinese scientists and engineers are counting down to launch of a heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket Monday with the Chang’e 5 mission, an ambitious attempt to land on the moon, drill samples from beneath the lunar surface, and return the material to Earth.

China launches mobile telecom satellite

November 14, 2020

A new Chinese mobile communications satellite launched Thursday on top of a Long March 3B rocket, joining a similar spacecraft launched four years ago to provide voice and data services to users on the go.

Ten Satellogic Earth-imaging satellites successfully launched

November 6, 2020

Ten small high-resolution observation satellites for Satellogic — an Argentine company in the midst of deploying a fleet of Earth-imaging spacecraft — successfully launched Friday on a Chinese Long March 6 rocket.

China launches three military spy satellites

October 26, 2020

Three mysterious payloads widely believed to be signals intelligence satellites for the Chinese military rocketed into orbit on top of a Long March 2C booster Monday from a launch base in southwestern China.

China launches geosynchronous Earth observation satellite

October 12, 2020

China successfully launched a Gaofen optical observation satellite Sunday toward a perch more than 22,000 miles over the equator, where it will use an Earth-facing telescope to collect remote sensing images, Chinese state media said.

China launches environmental monitoring satellites

September 28, 2020

Without any public warning, a Chinese Long March 4B rocket lifted off Sunday with two “environmental monitoring satellites” that the country’s state media said will replace a pair of spacecraft launched in 2008 that collected data to assist in a series of disaster relief efforts over the last decade.

China launches Haiyang oceanography satellite

September 22, 2020

A Chinese oceanography satellite designed to measure wave height and winds launched Monday aboard a Long March 4B rocket equipped with grid fins to help control the first stage’s descent back to Earth, an improvement aimed at keeping falling boosters away from Chinese villages.

China successfully launches satellites from ocean-going platform

September 17, 2020

A solid-fueled Long March 11 launcher delivered nine small Chinese Earth observation satellites to orbit Tuesday after firing off a ship positioned in the Yellow Sea.