Long March 5

The envisioned crew-rated rocket will be powered by clusters of YF-100K engines, which are uprated versions of the YF-100 kerosene engines used by Long March 5, 6, and 7 launchers.

CASC’s first generation of Long March rockets use hypergolic propellants, while the Long March 5, 6, 7, and 8 use cryogenic or kerosene propellants.

Tianwen-2 will likely use the Long March 3B and Long March 5 launch vehicles instead of a single Long March 9.

The Long March 5 is planned to launch the orbiter and reentry capsule for Tianwen-2.

Shijian-17 was launched on the first Long March 5 heavy-lift rocket in 2016 as an experimental satellite for communication and broadcast services.

The YF-100K engines are uprated versions of the YF-100 kerosene engines used by China’s Long March 5, 6, and 7 launchers.

The Long March 7 is a new-generation kerolox rocket developed by China and is part of a family that includes the Long March 5, 6, 7, and 8 series.

China is developing a new rocket for sending crew into trans-lunar injection that utilizes existing Long March 5 technologies and upgraded engines.

Two launches of the three-core Long March 5-DY launcher would enable crewed lunar missions earlier than 2030 using a lunar orbit rendezvous mission profile.

The 22.5-ton Tianhe space station core module launched late 2021-04-28 Eastern on a Long March 5B rocket and is now in a 360 by 385-kilometer orbit inclined 41.5 degrees.

The Long March 7 is one of several new-generation kerolox and hydrolox rockets developed by China over the past decade, including the Long March 5, 6, 7, and 8 series.

Tianwen-1 launched from Wenchang, south China, on 2020-07-23 on a Long March 5 heavy-lift rocket.

On 2021-04-28, China launched a Long March 5B rocket carrying the first module of China’s future space station into Earth orbit.

The 18th Space Control Squadron began offering daily updates to the Long March 5B rocket body’s location on www.space-track.org beginning 2021-05-04.

The Tianhe launch was delayed by the 2017 failure of a Long March 5 and by postponement of the Long March 5B test while issues with the YF-77 core-stage engine were resolved.

A Long March 5B rocket currently sits on the pad at the Wenchang spaceport and is expected to loft the first Chinese space station module late 2021-04-28 Eastern.

The Tianhe core module launch was delayed by the 2017 failure of the second Long March 5 due to issues with the YF-77 liquid hydrogen-liquid oxygen engine.

China delayed initial space station construction plans after the failure of the second Long March 5 rocket in 2017-07-01 and is maintaining a 2022 goal for completion of the station construction phase.