SAST

Catalog — Rockets

• 1992

  Long March 2D

  The Long March 2D (Chang Zheng 2D, CZ-2D or LM-2D) is a Chinese two-stage orbital carrier rocket used mainly to place satellites into low Earth and Sun-synchronous orbits. It is built by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) and, despite its designation, is an oddity within its family: unlike all other members of the Long March 2 family, it is in fact a two-stage version of the Long March 4 launch vehicle. It stands 41.056 m tall and 3.35 m in diameter, and lifts off at 232,250 kg. Both stages burn the hypergolic mixture of dinitrogen tetroxide and UDMH: the first with four YF-21C engines producing 2961.6 kN, the second with a YF-24C assembly made up of one YF-22C main engine and four YF-23C verniers. An optional YZ-3 third stage with a 6.5 kN YF-50D engine can be added for missions requiring multiple insertions. Capacity is 3500 kg to low Earth orbit and 1300 kg to Sun-synchronous orbit, and its price has been quoted at around US$30 million. It is one of China's most veteran and prolific launchers. It made its maiden flight on 9 August 1992 with the recoverable FSW-2 reconnaissance satellites, later joined by FSW-3. It flies from several centres: launch areas LA-2 and LA-4 at Jiuquan, LA-9 at Taiyuan and LA-3 at Xichang. As of May 2026 it had accumulated 105 launches with 104 successes and one partial failure.

• 1999

  Long March 4B

  The Long March 4B, also known as Chang Zheng 4B, CZ-4B or LM-4B, is a Chinese expendable three-stage orbital launch vehicle built by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology. It belongs to the Long March family and is the basis from which the later Long March 4C was derived. It is a vehicle from the generation preceding China's kerolox rockets: all three stages burn nitrogen tetroxide and UDMH, storable hypergolic propellants. The 27.91-metre first stage carries four YF-21C engines; the second combines a main engine with four vernier engines for fine control; the third, 2.9 metres in diameter, uses two YF-40 engines. The stack stands 44.1 metres tall by 3.35 metres in diameter and lifts off at 249,200 kg. Its routine job is placing satellites into low Earth orbit and, above all, sun-synchronous orbits, with capacities of 4,200 kg to LEO, 2,800 kg to SSO and 1,500 kg to geostationary transfer orbit. It remains active and operates from several Chinese centres: Taiyuan, Jiuquan and Xichang. It is one of the longest-serving workhorses of the Chinese space programme, with a record of nearly three decades of continuous service devoted largely to weather, earth-resources and observation satellites.

• 2006

  Long March 4C

  The Long March 4C, also known as Chang Zheng 4C, CZ-4C and LM-4C, is a Chinese orbital launch vehicle built by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology. It flies from the Jiuquan, Taiyuan and Xichang launch centres and consists of three stages, all of which use storable rather than cryogenic propellants — dinitrogen tetroxide and UDMH — placing it firmly in the older generation of the Long March family. It is a configuration derived from the three-stage Long March 4B, from which it differs in two specific respects: a restartable third stage and a larger payload fairing. That restart capability is what allows more flexible insertion manoeuvres than its predecessor. Before it flew it was designated Long March 4B-II, which is why its first launch is often mistaken for a Long March 4B. It stands 45.8 m tall on a 3.35 m core and weighs 250,000 kg at liftoff. Quoted capability is 4,200 kg to low Earth orbit, 2,800 kg to Sun-synchronous orbit and 1,500 kg to geosynchronous transfer orbit. The first stage uses four YF-21C engines, the second a YF-24C assembly with a YF-22C main engine and four YF-23C verniers, and the third two YF-40A engines.

• 2015

  Long March 6

  The Long March 6 (Chang Zheng 6, abbreviated CZ 6 inside China and LM 6 for export) is a Chinese liquid-fuelled launch vehicle of the Long March family, developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation together with the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology. Designed during the 2000s and first flown in 2015, it belongs to the new generation of Chinese launchers as a light-capacity, "high-speed response" option complementing the heavy-lift Long March 5 and the mid-heavy Long March 7. Its first stage is derived from the boosters developed for the Long March 5 and is powered by a single YF-100 engine burning kerosene and liquid oxygen; the maiden flight was also the first flight of that engine design. The second stage, 2.25 m in diameter, carries one YF-115, and the third stage uses storable dinitrogen tetroxide and UDMH propellants. The vehicle stands 29 m tall on a 3.35 m core, weighs 103,000 kg at liftoff and can place at least 1,000 kg into Sun-synchronous orbit. This entry covers the original three-stage configuration. The family has since branched out: the Long March 6A adds four strap-on solid boosters, an elongated first stage and a new second stage of the same diameter as the first, while the Long March 6C is slightly shorter than the 6A and drops the solid boosters. Flight statistics for the baseline CZ-6 are tallied separately from both variants.

• 2022

  Long March 6A

  The Long March 6A (CZ-6A within China, LM 6A for export) is a Chinese medium-lift launch vehicle in the Long March family, developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and built by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology. It is an evolution of the original Long March 6: it carries two YF-100 engines on the first stage instead of one and adds four strap-on solid rocket boosters. That combination makes it China's first rocket fitted with solid rocket boosters and, so far, the only one in the family to combine solid and liquid propulsion in a single vehicle. The first stage burns kerosene and liquid oxygen; the second uses a YF-115 engine with the same propellant pair. At 50 metres tall — 52 with the extended fairing — and 3.35 metres in diameter, it can place about 8000 kg into low Earth orbit, 6500 kg into a 500 km sun-synchronous orbit and 5000 kg to 700 km. A shorter boosterless variant, the Long March 6C, also exists. The vehicle is active and flies from Launch Area 9A at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. Its routine workload consists of remote-sensing satellites and, above all, batch deployments of the Chinese Qianfan and Guowang megaconstellations. Its record carries one known problem: several of its upper stages have fragmented in orbit after completing their missions, generating significant amounts of space debris.

• 2024

  Long March 12

  The Long March 12 (LM-12 or CZ-12) is a Chinese medium-lift kerolox launch vehicle built by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology. It stands 62 m tall, weighs 433 tonnes at liftoff and comprises two stages. It can place at least 12 tonnes of payload into low Earth orbit and at least 6 tonnes into a 700 km Sun-synchronous orbit; at 300 km altitude its stated capacity is 10,000 kg. Its first stage is powered by four YF-100K engines of 1,250 kN each, while the second uses two YF-115 engines of 180 kN, both burning RP-1 and liquid oxygen. The rocket is offered with two payload fairings, 5.2 and 4.2 m in diameter. Its most striking structural feature is the 3.8 m stage diameter, a first for China. It is more economical than the medium-to-heavy-lift Long March 7, which was designed to become human-rated. The CZ-12 lifts off from pad LC-2 at the new commercial spaceport at Wenchang, on the coast of Hainan. All its flights so far have gone to low Earth orbit with satellites of the Guowang internet constellation. The family has since expanded with two reusable versions: the Long March 12A, with a recoverable first stage and methane engines, and the commercially oriented Long March 12B, of 4.37 m diameter.

• —

  Long March 6C Sheet pending