The first Long March 3B failure occurred on the rocket’s debut flight in February 1996 while carrying the American Intelsat-708.
Intelsat contracted with the Chinese government to launch its seventh-generation communications satellite, Intelsat-708, at half the rate of the European Ariane rocket.
The Intelsat-708 mission launched aboard a Long March CZ-3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan, China, on February 14, 1996.
The 1995 failure of a Chinese Long March 2E carrying Apstar-6 and the 1996 failure of a Long March 3B carrying Intelsat-708 led to a U.S. crackdown on satellite technology exports involving Loral and Hughes.