China Successfully Launches Long March 7A Written 12 March 2021
Long March 6 makes maiden flight. | Credit: Wikipedia; Fair Use
Space News reports that at 12:51 p.m. EST Thursday, China launched its Long March 7A rocket from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, “sending a classified, experimental payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit [GTO].” The “first launch of the Long March 7A failed in March 2020. A loss of pressure occurred after first stage separation, which led to engine malfunction.” The Long March 7A “is a 60.1-meter-long, 3.35-meter-diameter kerosene and liquid oxygen launch vehicle with four side boosters, capable of delivering up to 7 metric tons of payload to GTO.” CASC “plans to carry out 3-5 Long March 7A launches a year by 2025.” The launched “payload was the Shiyan-9, or ‘experiment-9,’ technology verification satellite.” The satellite “will be mainly used for in-orbit verification tests of new technologies such as space environmental monitoring, CASC stated, without providing further details.”
Full Story (Space News)