On CNSA –China National Space Administration …. ChangZheng Long March 12 Second flight rocket …. At Hainan Commercial Space Launch Center. Wenchang, Hainan Province, China, People’s Republic of China At 19:50 Beijing time on May 20, 2025, at the 201 launch site at the Wenchang Launch Center in Hainan, China, the Long March 7A Yao 15 carrier rocket ignited and took off to carry out a space launch mission, and then sent the ChinaSat 3B communications satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO).
“ChinaSat 3B” is a large high-orbit communication satellite developed by the Communication and Navigation Satellite General Department of the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. It is mainly used for voice, data, and radio and television transmission services. “ChinaSat 3B” and “ChinaSat 3A” are satellites produced in the same batch. When “ChinaSat 3B” enters the electrical test phase, “ChinaSat 3A” launched on June 29, 2024 is in the on-orbit test and optimization phase. After entering the transfer orbit, the “ChinaSat 3B” satellite will gradually raise its perigee altitude by its own power, and eventually enter the geosynchronous orbit (GEO) for operation.
The Long March 7A is a new generation of Long March carrier rocket developed by the First Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. It is a medium-sized liquid carrier rocket, mainly used to carry out high-orbit launch missions. The rocket adopts a three-and-a-half-stage configuration, consisting of a core stage, a core stage, and a core stage in series, with four boosters and a core stage bundled together.
The full height of the Long March 7A rocket is 60.13 meters (with a 4.2-meter diameter fairing), the booster diameter is 2.25 meters, the core stage and core stage diameters are 3.35 meters, the core stage diameter is 3 meters, the takeoff mass is about 570 tons, the takeoff thrust is 727 tons, and its geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) capacity is not less than 7 tons. This rocket is equipped with a 4.2-meter diameter fairing.
This mission is the 10th launch of the Long March 7A, 51 days after the last launch. Since the success of the second launch mission of the Long March 7A on March 12, 2021, the rocket has achieved 9 consecutive victories, gradually moving from continuous success to maturity, laying the foundation for the eventual replacement of the Long March 3B. At present, the test launch cycle of the rocket (Yao 11) is 24 days. In 2025, the Long March 7A carrier rocket will also carry out multiple launch missions.
This launch is the second launch of the Long March 7A carrier rocket in 2025, the fourth launch at the Wenchang Launch Center, the 30th launch in China and the 110th orbital space launch in the world.
Images and visuals are from their Respectives CMS China Manned SpaceCNSA-China National Space Administration