China Conducted Two Space Launches Following the Long March 7A Rocket Crash
China conducted two space launches less than a week after the Long March 7A launch vehicle exploded. On August 16, the Long March 12 rocket launched from the Wenchang Commercial Spaceport and placed 24 satellites for internet communications into low Earth orbit, according to Space.com.
The Long March 12 launch took place at 12:10 p.m. local time. This was the first launch following the loss of the Long March 7A, which exploded in flight on August 10 along with the Zhongxing-4B telecommunications satellite. Video footage of that launch shows that approximately 85 seconds after liftoff, the fairing and the upper stage of the rocket began to tilt backward.
Less than a day after the Long March 12 mission, a Long March 2C rocket launched from the Taiyuan Space Center in Shanxi Province. It placed the SEO satellite for the United Arab Emirates into its planned orbit, according to the China National Space Administration. The launch took place on August 17 at 11:02 a.m. local time.
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The Long March 12 has two stages and is designed to launch relatively heavy payloads into low Earth orbit and sun-synchronous orbit. It stands 62 meters tall. The 60-meter-tall Long March 7A has three stages and is designed for missions to geostationary transfer orbit and beyond. The Long March 2C, approximately 43 meters tall, is used primarily for smaller payloads in low Earth orbit; its payload capacity is approximately 3.9 metric tons.
The Long March 12 was introduced in 2024 and has since completed seven successful missions. The August 10 accident marked the second failure of the Long March 7A in 18 launches since the rocket’s debut in 2020. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) stated that the causes of the incident are under investigation.
