List of Long March launches

Last updated September 22, 2024

This is a list of launches made by the Long March rocket family. Launch attempts aborted or scrubbed before liftoff, including ones such as the attempt to launch a Long March 2E with Optus B1 on 22 March 1992, where the engines were ignited but shut down on the pad, are not included. Launches made with the related Feng Bao 1 carrier rocket are not included.

Launch statistics

Rockets from the Long March family have accumulated a total of 536 launches as of 20 September 2024^[update]. Of these, 517 were successful, 10 were failures, and 9 were partial failures. The cumulative success rate is 96.5%.

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Failure
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Success
Planned^[1]

Anomalies and failures

A success is a launch that deploys all payloads into the correct orbit without damage. The launch vehicle may experience an anomaly that does not affect the mission. The payload may experience an anomaly that was not caused by the launch.

On 29 November 1994, the Long March 3A successfully deployed Chinasat-5 into geostationary transfer orbit. However, the satellite failed to reach geostationary orbit due to a propellant leak.
On 3 November 2016, the Long March 5 experienced an anomaly in the second stage, failing to deploy the stack into the correct geostationary transfer orbit. However, the third stage was able to compensate for the performance shortfall with a longer burn.

A partial failure is a launch that reaches orbit, but at least one payload was not deployed into the correct orbit or suffered damage.^[2] After a partial failure, a satellite may operate at reduced functionality or with a reduced lifetime. A common type of partial failure occurs when a satellite is deployed into a lower than intended orbit. The satellite can maneuver with its own propulsion system to reach the correct orbit, but this reduces the fuel available for station-keeping and shortens its operational life.^[3]

On 29 January 1984, the maiden launch of the Long March 3 failed to reach geostationary transfer orbit.
On 28 December 1991, the Long March 3 failed to deploy DFH-2A-4 (ChinaSat 4) into geostationary transfer orbit.
On 21 December 1992, the Long March 2E experienced a structural failure of the payload fairing, destroying the Optus B2 communications satellite. The satellite's debris reached the correct orbit.
On 28 November 1995, the Long March 2E damaged AsiaSat 2 by subjecting it to excessive forces during the launch. The satellite was unable to broadcast to its full coverage area.
On 18 August 1996, the Long March 3 failed to deploy ChinaSat 7 into geostationary transfer orbit.
On 31 August 2009, the Long March 3B failed to deploy Palapa-D into geostationary transfer orbit. The satellite reached the intended orbit with its own propulsion system.
On 28 December 2016, the Long March 2D failed to deploy the payloads into Sun-synchronous orbit. The primary payloads reached the correct orbit with their own propulsion systems, but the secondary payload had no propulsion system and reentered two months later.
On 18 June 2017, the Long March 3B failed to deploy ChinaSat 9A into geostationary transfer orbit. The satellite maneuvered 10 times over a one-month period to reach the correct orbit.
On 13 March 2024, the Long March 2C failed to deploy the DRO-A and DRO-B satellites into the planned trans-lunar injection orbit because of a failure of the YZ-1A upper stage. The satellites however were able to reach their intended Distant Retrograde Orbit around the Moon under their own power and are operating normally.^[4]

A failure is a launch that does not deploy it into earth orbit.

On 5 November 1974, the Long March 2 lost control during its maiden launch.
On 25 January 1995, the Long March 2E experienced another structural failure in the payload fairing, destroying the Apstar 2 communications satellite.
On 14 February 1996, the Long March 3B lost its guidance platform and veered off course, hitting a nearby village and killing at least 6 people.
On 18 August 2011, the Long March 2C lost attitude control.
On 9 December 2013, the Long March 4B experienced an early shutdown of its third stage and failed to reach orbit.
On 31 August 2016, the Long March 4C failed to reach orbit.
On 2 July 2017, the Long March 5 experienced an anomaly in its first stage and failed to reach orbit.
On 22 May 2019, the Long March 4C failed to reach orbit due to a problem with its third stage.
On 16 March 2020, the first Long March 7A failed to reach orbit.
On 9 April 2020, the Long March 3B failed to reach orbit with the Palapa-N1 (Nusantara Dua) satellite due to third stage failure.

Related Research Articles

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References

↑ Pietrobon, Steven (30 December 2018). "Chinese Launch Manifest". Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
↑ Nowakowski, Tomasz (7 December 2015). "Russian Soyuz-2.1v Launch a Partial Failure". Spaceflight Insider. Archived from the original on 13 June 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017. The mission was declared successful shortly after the launch, but the latest media reports indicate that one of the satellites did not separate from the rocket's upper stage and is most likely lost.
↑ Jones, Andrew (19 June 2017). "China confirms partial failure of Zhongxing-9A launch, measures being taken". GBTIMES. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
↑ Jones, Andrew (20 August 2024). "Chinese spacecraft appear to reach lunar orbit despite launch setback". Spacenews.com. Retrieved 20 September 2024.

Sources

McDowell, Jonathan. "Launch Log". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
Krebs, Gunter. "CZ-1 (Chang Zheng-1)" . Retrieved 6 June 2019.
Krebs, Gunter. "DF-5 family" . Retrieved 6 June 2019.

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[pietrobon-1] Pietrobon, Steven (30 December 2018). "Chinese Launch Manifest". Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2018.

[2] Nowakowski, Tomasz (7 December 2015). "Russian Soyuz-2.1v Launch a Partial Failure". Spaceflight Insider. Archived from the original on 13 June 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017. The mission was declared successful shortly after the launch, but the latest media reports indicate that one of the satellites did not separate from the rocket's upper stage and is most likely lost.

[3] Jones, Andrew (19 June 2017). "China confirms partial failure of Zhongxing-9A launch, measures being taken". GBTIMES. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.

[4] Jones, Andrew (20 August 2024). "Chinese spacecraft appear to reach lunar orbit despite launch setback". Spacenews.com. Retrieved 20 September 2024.

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v t e Long March (rocket family)
Rockets	Feng Bao 1 Long March 1 1D Long March 2 2A 2C 2D 2E 2F Long March 3 3A 3B 3B/E 3C Long March 4 4A 4B 4C Long March 5 5B Long March 6 6A 6C Long March 7 7A Long March 8 8A Long March 9 Long March 10 Long March 11 Long March 12
Launch sites	Jiuquan Taiyuan Wenchang Commercial Xichang
Manufacturers	China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology
Designers	Wang Xiji
List of Long March launches

v t e Orbital launch systems
List of orbital launch systems Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara 1.2 A5 Ariane 6 Atlas V Ceres 1 1S Chollima-1 Electron Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Gravity-1 GSLV H-IIA H3 Hyperbola-1 Jielong 1 3 KAIROS ^† Kaituozhe 2 Kinetica 1 Kuaizhou 1 1A 11 Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B/E 3C 4B 4C 5 5B 6 6A 7 7A 8 11 11H LVM3 Minotaur I IV V C Nuri OS-M1 ^† Pegasus XL Proton-M PSLV Qaem 100 Qased RS1 ^† Shavit 2 Simorgh SLS Block 1 Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB 2-1v SSLV Starship Tianlong-2 Unha Vega C Vulcan Centaur Zhuque 2
In development	Antares 330 Bloostar Cyclone-4M Deca Epsilon S Eris Gravity-2 Hyperbola-2 Irtysh Kuaizhou 21 31 Long March 9 10 12 Miura 5 MLV Neutron New Glenn New Line 1 NGLV Nova OS-M 2 4 Orbex Prime Pallas-1 Red Dwarf SLS Block 1B Block 2 Soyuz-7 Terran R Tianlong-3 VLM Vega E Zero Zhuque 3 Zuljanah
Retired	Antares 110 120 130 ^† 230 230+ Ariane 1 2 3 4 5 ASLV Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able ^† Agena Centaur Black Arrow Conestoga ^† Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 II III IV IV Heavy Diamant Dnepr Energia Epsilon Europa I ^† II ^† Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" Feng Bao 1 GSLV Mk I H-I H-II H-IIB Juno I Juno II Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos original 1 2/2I 3 3M Lambda 4S LauncherOne Long March 1 1D ^† 2A 2E 3 3B 4A Mu 4S 3C 3H 3S 3SII V N1 ^† N-I N-II Naro-1 Paektusan ^† Pilot-2 ^† R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original FG L M U U2 Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna ^† Rocket 3 Safir 1 1A 1B Saturn I IB V Scout X-1 Blue Scout II ^† X-2 ^† X-2M X-3 X-3M X-4 X-2B ^† B A B-1 D-1 A-1 E-1 F-1 G-1 Shavit original 1 SLV Space Shuttle SPARK ^† Sparta SS-520 Start-1 Terran 1 ^† Thor Able Ablestar 1 2 Agena A B D Burner 1 2 Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena SLV-2G SLV-2H Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Tsyklon R-36-O original 2 3 Universal Rocket UR-500 Proton Proton-K Rokot Strela Vanguard Vega original VLS-1 ^† Zenit 2 2M 2FG 3SL 3SLB 3F Zhuque 1 ^†
Classes	Sounding rocket Small-lift launch vehicle Medium-lift launch vehicle Heavy-lift launch vehicle Super heavy-lift launch vehicle
This Template lists historical, current, and future space rockets that at least once attempted (but not necessarily succeeded in) an orbital launch or that are planned to attempt such a launch in the future Symbol ^† indicates past or current rockets that attempted orbital launches but never succeeded (never did or has yet to perform a successful orbital launch)