The CAS Space Zhongke-1A, an all-solid four-stage small to medium-lift launch vehicle, made its first-ever launch at 04:12 UTC on Wednesday, July 27. The rocket successfully flew from Jiuquan in the remote Inner Mongolia desert region of northwest China.
CAS Space, also known as Zhongke Aerospace, is a spinoff company partially owned by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The company developed the Zhongke-1A vehicle, also known as the ZK-1A or Lijian-1, based on the existing DF-31 road-mobile ICBM. This is one of several Chinese launch vehicles with solid-fueled ICBM heritage.