Taiyuan – Spaceflight Now

China launches ocean monitoring satellite

June 10, 2020

A civilian-operated Chinese oceanography satellite deployed in orbit after lifting off on a Long March 2C rocket Wednesday, joining a predecessor launched in 2018 to monitor ocean color and water temperatures.

Argentine smallsats hitch ride with Chinese payloads on Long March rocket

January 15, 2020

Two Earth-imaging microsatellites built and owned by the Argentine company Satellogic launched on a Long March 2D rocket from China Wednesday, sharing a ride into orbit with two Chinese spacecraft.

Long March, Soyuz and Falcon rockets topped 2019’s launch leaderboard

January 2, 2020

China led the world with 34 orbital launch attempts in 2019 — including two failures — followed by 22 flights from Russian-operated launch pads and 21 satellite delivery missions originating from U.S. spaceports, all of which were successful.

China launches environmental satellite built in cooperation with Brazil

December 21, 2019

The sixth in a series of environmental monitoring satellites jointly developed by China and Brazil successfully launched Dec. 20 on top of a Long March 4B rocket.

China launches two Kuaizhou rockets in six hours

December 7, 2019

Two solid-fueled Kuaizhou 1A rockets fired into orbit from the same spaceport in northern China Saturday, demonstrating a further advance in China’s aim for a quick-response, on-call satellite launch capability.

China launches radar observation satellite

November 28, 2019

A new all-weather radar imaging satellite for China’s civilian-oriented fleet of Gaofen Earth observatories launched Wednesday aboard a Long March 4C rocket, according to Chinese state media.

Two Chinese satellite launchers lift off three hours apart

November 13, 2019

Chinese rockets performed two satellite delivery missions in a three-hour span Wednesday, carrying a commercial Earth-imaging satellite and five mysterious surveillance payloads into orbit.

Chinese mapping satellite launches on Long March 4B rocket

November 3, 2019

An Earth observation satellite designed to collect three-dimensional mapping imagery rode a Long March 4B rocket into orbit Sunday with three smaller spacecraft, including one to test an innovative French-made iodine thruster, and another satellite built for Sudan.

China launches new Gaofen Earth-imaging satellite

October 6, 2019

A Chinese Long March 4C rocket delivered into orbit Friday the Gaofen 10 Earth-imaging satellite, a likely replacement for a spacecraft lost in an August 2016 launch failure.

China launches Earth-observing satellites, solar sail experiment

September 12, 2019

Two Earth-imaging satellites and an experimental solar sail payload rocketed into orbit Thursday aboard a Chinese Long March 4B launcher, the first flight for China’s Long March 4 rocket family since an upper stage failure in May.