The launch vehicle was carrying the Shijian-32 technology testing spacecraft.

Vehicle quality control for Long March 3B/E operations was split between Beijing for monitoring manufacturing defects and Xichang for catching defects and swapping hardware during launch processes.

The January 2026 mission was the 115th launch of a Long March 3B vehicle.

With flight hardware distributed between Beijing and Xichang, return-to-flight preparations for the Long March 3B/E could take only a few months.

Other Long March vehicles that use the same third-stage as the Long March 3B/E include the Long March 3A, Long March 3C, Long March 7A, and Long March 8.

The previous return-to-flight for a Long March 3B/E in 2020 took seventy-six days.

The payload fairing of the Long March 3B/E has a diameter of 4.2 meters.

The first and second stages of the Long March 3B/E have a diameter of 3.35 meters.

The third stage of the Long March 3B/E has a diameter of 3.0 meters.

The Long March 3B/E experienced a mission failure during one of its planned burns, with the anomaly occurring in the third-stage flight segment.

Each P120C solid-fuel booster produces roughly 4,500 kN of thrust.

Arianespace expects the entire Ariane 64 LE-01 flight, including the presumed deorbiting of the upper stage, to last 1 hour and 54 minutes.

Arianespace plans to introduce an upgraded solid-fuel booster, the P160C, which carries an additional 14 tonnes of solid propellant compared with the P120C.

The inaugural flight of the Ariane 6 launch system was conducted in July 2024.

Under an 18-flight launch contract awarded in 2022, Arianespace will deploy 32 Amazon LEO satellites on the first mission designated LE-01.

In 2025 Arianespace launched four Ariane 6 flights carrying payloads for ESA, EUMETSAT, and CNES.

The inaugural Ariane 64 mission will begin Arianespace’s launch campaign for Amazon’s broadband internet constellation.

Arianespace aims to double its Ariane 6 launch cadence to as many as eight flights over the next 12 months.

The 32 Amazon LEO satellites launched on LE-01 will add to 180 Amazon satellites already in orbit.

Arianespace will launch the first Ariane 64 flight on 12 February from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana.

All five Ariane 6 flights to date have used the Ariane 62 configuration with two P120C solid-fuel boosters.

The Ariane 64 configuration is capable of delivering up to 21.6 tonnes to low Earth orbit.

The Ariane 64 inaugural flight will be the first Ariane 6 mission to use the 20-metre-long payload fairing after previous flights used the 14-metre fairing.

The Ariane 62 configuration has a low Earth orbit capacity of 10.3 tonnes.

The Ariane 64 configuration features four P120C solid-fuel boosters.

The Dragon capsule is developed by SpaceX for the transport of astronauts under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

Dragon is used for operational missions to the International Space Station and is designed for controlled reentry and ocean splashdowns.

Crew-11’s return represents a continuation of crewed flights managed under the United States commercial crew program.

The Crew-11 mission was part of NASA’s human transportation operations to the International Space Station.

The Dragon capsule carrying NASA’s Crew-11 splashed down off the coast of California.

SpaceX posted on X on January 15, 2026 that the Dragon capsule carrying NASA’s Crew-11 returned to Earth.

The successful atmospheric reentry and recovery of Crew-11’s Dragon capsule completed the mission’s final phase from launch to return.

The splashdown of Crew-11’s Dragon capsule occurred in the ocean to facilitate rapid intervention by recovery teams.

Each operational Dragon crewed return contributes to validation of Dragon systems and recovery procedures.

The debut launch of the solid Ceres-2 from Jiuquan occurred at 0408 UTC on January 17, 2026.

China has experienced two launch failures within hours of each other.

The Ceres-2 launch also failed.

A Long March 3B lifted off from Xichang at 1655 UTC on January 16, 2026.

The Shijian-32 satellite was lost due to a 3rd stage anomaly during the Long March 3B launch.

On December 26, at 16:07 UTC, Long March 3B launched FengYun-4C from Xichang.

The Long March 3B failed to deliver the payload, Shijian-32, to its planned orbit.

A Long March 3B rocket lifted off from Xichang at 16:55 UTC.

GALACTIC-ENERGY's CERES-2 rocket failed to achieve orbit on its maiden flight.

GALACTIC-ENERGY released the mission patch of CERES-2's debut launch.

A Long March 3B lifted off from Xichang at 16:55 UTC on December 26 but failed to deliver the payload, Shijian-32, to its planned orbit due to a third stage anomaly.

Long March 3B successfully launched FengYun-4C from Xichang at 16:07 UTC on December 26.

The failed launch involved Shijian-32 and occurred at 16:55 UTC.

This was the first failure for the Long March series in almost six years.

The Long March series experienced a full launch failure on January 17, 2026.

The first launch of the Ceres-2 may involve Chinese launchers due to a recent failure by the 'national team'.