List of Long March launches explained

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.

Due to the size of the list, it has been split into several smaller articles:

Launch statistics

Rockets from the Long March family have accumulated a total of 549 launches . Of these, 530 were successful, 10 were failures, and 9 were partial failures. The cumulative success rate is . Note that the statistics listed in this paragraph are correct having been sourced from CNSA launch announcements; however the launches listed in the following bar chart and in the launch tables likely have errors of omission.

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.^[1] 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.^[2]

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.^[3]

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.

Sources

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

Notes and References

News: Nowakowski. Tomasz. Russian Soyuz-2.1v Launch a Partial Failure. Spaceflight Insider. December 7, 2015. 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.. November 27, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170613183706/http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/missions/defense/russia-successfully-launches-kanopus-st-satellite-into-orbit/. June 13, 2017. live.
News: Jones. Andrew. China confirms partial failure of Zhongxing-9A launch, measures being taken. GBTIMES. June 19, 2017. November 27, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171201042554/https://gbtimes.com/china-confirms-partial-failure-zhongxing-9a-launch-measures-being-taken. December 1, 2017. live.
News: Jones. Andrew. Chinese spacecraft appear to reach lunar orbit despite launch setback . Spacenews.com . 20 August 2024 . 20 September 2024.