Long March 2

The Long March 5B core stage uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants while older Long March 2, 3, and 4 series rockets use hypergolic hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide.

China developed and tested the Shenzhou spacecraft, Long March 2F, Tianlian relay satellites, rendezvous and docking technologies, refueling in microgravity, new launch vehicles, and the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center to support the space station project.

China previously relied on hypergolic Long March 2, 3, and 4 series rockets that use dinitrogen tetroxide and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine propellants.

China previously relied on hypergolic Long March 2, 3, and 4 series rockets that use dinitrogen tetroxide and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine propellants.

The first crewed mission to the Chinese Space Station, Shenzhou-12, will launch from Jiuquan via a Long March 2F hypergolic rocket.

CASC has prepared the 12th and 13th Long March 2F rockets for launching the Shenzhou-12 and Shenzhou-13 missions.

The Long March 2F for the Shenzhou-12 mission is undergoing testing in a final assembly facility in Beijing with work expected to be completed following the Chinese New Year (2021-02-12).

The Shenzhou-12 crewed mission will launch on a Long March 2F rocket from Jiuquan in the Gobi Desert.

Missions to deploy the Chinese Space Station core module, Tianzhou-2, and Shenzhou-12 will require Long March 5B and Long March 7 launches from Wenchang and a Long March 2F launch from Jiuquan.

The Long March 8 and the new-generation Long March 5, 6, and 7 launch vehicles are designed to replace China’s hypergolic Long March 2 and 3 families.

The lower mass of the DFH-3E allows it to be launched to geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) by the Long March 2C.

The Long March 2C has carried out 54 launches since 1982 and has not yet performed a launch to GTO without using an upper stage.

A Long March-2C carrier rocket launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China’s Sichuan Province on 2020-10-26 at 11:19 p.m. Beijing Time.

A Long March 2C rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on 2020-10-26 at 11:19 a.m. Eastern carrying three Yaogan satellites and one smaller commercial payload.

The grid fin test used on the 2019-07-01 Long March 2C launch has not been repeated with the Long March 2C as of the 2020-10-26 launch.

The payload fairing on the 2020-10-26 Long March 2C flight was equipped with a landing zone safety control system, according to the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.

The July 2019 Long March 2C launch carrying three Yaogan-30 group 5 satellites included four grid fins as part of tests for future reusability of newer rocket models.

Missions supporting Chinese space station construction will be conducted using Long March 5B, Long March 2F and Long March 7 launch vehicles.