Mission marks 600th launch for Long March fleet

China used a Long March 8A carrier rocket on Thursday morning to place a group of internet satellites into orbit, marking the 600th launch of the Long March rocket family.

The rocket blasted off at 9:33 am from the Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Center, a coastal spaceport in Wenchang, Hainan province. After a brief flight, it successfully deployed the 12th group of low-orbit satellites for China's State-owned space-based internet network, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.

This was China's 63rd rocket launch this year and the fourth flight of the Long March 8A, which made its maiden mission in February from the Wenchang Space Launch Center, another facility in the city.

Designed and built by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, a CASC subsidiary in Beijing, the Long March 8A stands 50.5 meters tall, has a liftoff weight of 371 metric tons and produces about 480 tons of thrust at launch. The model can carry payloads of up to 7 tons to a sun-synchronous orbit about 700 kilometers above Earth.

The Long March 8A is the 19th operational model in the Long March family, which serves as the backbone of China's space program.

Of the 600 Long March launches, 352 were conducted by models developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology and 248 by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, another CASC subsidiary. The overall success rate of the Long March fleet is about 97 percent.

China's first carrier rocket — the Long March 1, a modified ballistic missile — was launched in April 1970, sending the country's first satellite, Dongfanghong 1, into orbit. The mission made China the fifth nation capable of developing and launching its own rockets into space.

It took 37 years for the Long March family to complete its first 100 launches. The second 100 were achieved in 7 1/2 years. The third 100 launches took just over four years, the fourth 100 took two years and nine months, and the fifth 100 missions were completed in two years. The most recent 100 launches were accomplished in one year and 10 months.

To date, China has developed and launched more than 20 types of Long March rockets, with 16 currently in active service.

According to a CASC rocket planner, who asked to be identified only as Zhang, the 600 Long March missions account for nearly 86 percent of all Chinese space launches and have sent about 1,400 spacecraft into orbit.

So far, a total of 24 Long March models have flown, 19 of which remain in active service. Among them, the Long March 2D and Long March 3B are the most frequently used, each having completed more than 100 flights.

"The Long March family has laid a solid foundation for China's major space programs, from the space station to interplanetary exploration," Zhang said.