Chinese

China launch Shi Jian-12 satellite on research mission

Continuing its launch surge for 2010, China has launched a new satellite, the SJ-12 – or Shi Jian-12 – on June 15 using a CZ-2D Chang Zheng-2D (Long March 2D) launch vehicle from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

Launch took place at 9:39am local time.

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China launches BeiDou-2 – Station and Lunar plans outlined

June 2nd, 2010

China launched a new navigation satellite on Wednesday, using a CZ-3C Chang Zheng-3C (CZ3C-4/Y4) launch vehicle from the Xi Chang satellite Launch Center, in Sichuan Province. Launch took place at 15:53 UTC, as the new BeiDou-2 (Compass-G3) series continues to build the Compass constellation – joining three other satellites already orbit.

China launch YaoGan Weixing-9, announce increase in vehicle production

March 5th, 2010

China has launched a new “remote sensing” spacecraft – actually believed to be another spy satellite – on Friday. YaoGan Weixing-9 was launched at 04:55 (GMT) on March 5, via a CZ-4C Chang Zheng-4C – a launch vehicle that was debuting operations out of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Meanwhile, China has announced a major ramp [...]

China opens 2010 with BeiDou-2 satellite launch

January 16th, 2010

The Chinese have opened their 2010 campaign by orbiting a navigation satellite via a CZ-3C Chang Zheng-3C (CZ3C-3) launch vehicle from the Xi Chang satellite Launch Center, in Sichuan Province. Previously scheduled to take place last year, the launch of the new BeiDou-2 (Compass-G1) finally took place at 16:12 UTC on Saturday.

China completes 2009 schedule by launching another spy satellite

December 15th, 2009

China have launched the YaoGan Weinxing-8 “remote sensing” satellite via a CZ-4C Chang Zheng-4C from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center early on Tuesday. The final launch of the year is being classed as an Earth Monitoring satellite by the Chinese media. However, experts have revealed the bird is the latest to be equipped with reconnaissance [...]

Chang Zheng-3B suffers third stage problem during Palapa-D launch

August 31st, 2009

The Chinese have suffered a problem during the launch of the Indonesian Palapa-D communications satellite via a CZ-3B Chang Zheng-3B (CZ3B-12) launch vehicle. The launch took place at the Xi Chang Satellite Launch Center, in Sichuan Province on Monday at 09:28 UTC, but failed to place the spacecraft in the required orbit – due to [...]

Chinese launch again with YaoGan Weixing-6 remote sensing satellite

April 22nd, 2009

China has launched the YG-6 YaoGan Weixing-6 remote sensing satellite via a CZ-2C (Chang Zheng-2C) launch vehicle. Launch occurred at 02:55 UTC from the Taiyuan Satellite launch Center.

China open 2009 schedule with BeiDou-2 (COMPASS-G2) launch

April 14th, 2009

BeiDou-2 (COMPASS-G2) – China’s second geostationary navigation satellite – has launched from the Xichang satellite Launch Center, in Sichuan Province, via a CZ-3C Chang Zheng-3C (CZ3C-2) launch vehicle. Lift-off was at 16:16 UTC.

China launch meteorological satellite Fengyun-2-06

December 23rd, 2008

China has launched a new meteorological satellite from its Xi Chang Satellite Launch Center at 00:54UTC on December 23. The Fengyun-2-06 satellite was orbited by a CZ-3A Chang Zheng-3A launch vehicle.

China orbits YaoGan-5 satellite via Chang Zheng-4B launch vehicle

December 15th, 2008

China has launched a new remote sensing satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The fifth satellite in the YaoGan series was orbited by a CZ-4B Chang Zheng-4B  launch vehicle at 03:22 UTC Monday morning.

China launch remote sensing satellite Yaogan-4 – with potential military use

December 1st, 2008

China has launched a new remote sensing satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The Yaogan-4 satellite was orbited by a CZ-2D Chang Zheng-2D (CZ2D-10) launch vehicle at 04:42UTC.

China up the pace with another dual launch

November 5th, 2008

China has launched its eighth orbital mission this year, orbiting two satellites via a CZ-2D Chang Zheng-2D (CZ2D-9) launch vehicle – from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center’s SLS-2 launch complex. The launch took place at 00:15 UTC on Thursday.

China launch VENESAT-1 – debut bird for Venezuela

October 29th, 2008

China has launched Venezuelan’s first satellite, Simon Bolivar (or VENESAT-1 – the UN official designation), Wednesday. Simon Bolivar was orbited by a CZ-3B Chang Zheng-3B (CZ3B-11) launch vehicle, which launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province at 16:53 UTC.

China dual launch via Chang Zheng-4B

October 25th, 2008

China has launched two new satellites from its Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The Shi Jian-6 Group-03 satellites (SJ-6E Shi Jian-6E and SJ-6F Shi Jian-6F) were launched by a CZ-4B Chang Zheng-4B (CZ4B-12) at 01:15 UTC.

China’s Shenzhou-7 launched via Chang Zheng-2F

September 25th, 2008

After three years of training and planning, China has launched the Shenzhou-7 mission on Thursday, marking an important step in the Chinese space exploration effort. Lift-off occurred at 9:10 am US Eastern from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The CZ-2F Chang Zheng-2F (CZ2F-7) launch vehicle carrying Shenzhou-7 has a crew of three taikonauts: Jing Haipeng, Zhai [...]

Delta II launches with GeoEye 1 – Chinese launch two birds

September 6th, 2008

United Launch Alliance (ULA) have launched a Delta II carrying the next-generation, sub half-meter Earth-imaging satellite, GeoEye-1. Lift-off was at 11:50am PDT from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Launch video available below. Meanwhile, China launched its first disaster monitoring satellites at 03:25UTC, Saturday – via a CZ-2C Chang Zheng-2C/SMA launch vehicle from the Taiyuan [...]

CZ-3B Chang Zheng-3B launches ChinaSat-9

June 9th, 2008

The third Chinese launch of 2008 has seen the ZX-9 ZhongXing-9 – or ChinaSat-9 – launched into orbit at 12:15 UTC from the XiChang Satellite Launch Center, on the earthquake plagued Sichuan province. The launch was carried out by a CZ-3B Chang Zheng-3B (CZ3B-10) launch vehicle, from the LC2 launch complex.

China launches first of new generation polar orbiting satellites

May 26th, 2008

A Chinese CZ-4C Chang Zheng-4C launch vehicle – carrying the Feng Yun-3A satellite – has lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center located in the Shanxi province. The first satellite of the second generation of polar orbiting meteorological satellites was launched at 03:02 UTC. The bird will operate in a 836 km sun-synchronous orbit [...]

China launches military satellite via new Long March vehicle

November 12th, 2007

The Chinese have launched a new remote sensing satellite – believed to be of a military nature – from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, located on the Shanxi Province, northern China. The launch of the Yaogan-III satellite took place in the early hours of Monday local time (22:48 UTC Sunday night), separating from its CZ-4C [...]

China enters the new moon race with Chang’e-1 launch

October 24th, 2007

At the beginning of a 35 minute launch window that opened at 10:05 UTC, a CZ-3A Chang Zheng-3A (CZ3A-15) was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, located in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, carrying the first Chinese lunar probe, Chang’e-1 (ChangEr-1). This was the 104th successful orbital Chinese launch, the 45th successful orbital launch from [...]