Long March 8

Long March 8
Has use	Orbital launch vehicle
Manufacturer	China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT)
Country of origin	China
Size
Height	50.34 m (165.2 ft)
Diameter	3.35 m (11.0 ft)
Width	1.4
Mass	356,000 kg (785,000 lb)
Stages	2
Capacity
Payload to SSO 700 km
Mass	4,500 kg (9,900 lb)
Payload to LEO
Mass	8,400 kg (18,500 lb)
Payload to GTO
Mass	2,800 kg (6,200 lb)
Associated rockets
Comparable	Soyuz-2; Antares; Falcon 9 (RTLS reusable); Ariane 6; H3
Launch history
Status	Active
Launch sites	Wenchang, LC-2; Jiuquan
Total launches	1
Success(es)	1
First flight	22 December 2020
Boosters – K2 booster
No. boosters	2
Height	26.903 m (88.26 ft)
Diameter	2.25 m (7 ft 5 in)
Powered by	1 YF-100
Maximum thrust	Sea level: 1,200 kN (270,000 lbf); Vacuum: 1,340 kN (300,000 lbf)
Total thrust	Sea level: 4,800 kN (1,100,000 lbf); Vacuum: 5,360 kN (1,200,000 lbf)
Specific impulse	Sea level: 300 s (2.9 km/s); Vacuum: 335 s (3.29 km/s)
Propellant	RP-1 / LOX
First stage – K3 core module
Height	25.083 m (82.29 ft)
Diameter	3.35 m (11.0 ft)
Powered by	2 YF-100
Maximum thrust	Sea level: 2,400 kN (540,000 lbf); Vacuum: 2,680 kN (600,000 lbf)
Specific impulse	Sea level: 300 s (2.9 km/s); Vacuum: 335 s (3.29 km/s)
Propellant	RP-1 / LOX
Second stage
Height	12.375 m (40.60 ft)
Diameter	3.0 m (9.8 ft)
Powered by	2 YF-75
Maximum thrust	167.17 kN (37,580 lbf)
Specific impulse	438 s (4.30 km/s)
Propellant	LH2 / LOX

Long March 8 (Chinese: 长征八号运载火箭) is an orbital launch vehicle developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology to launch up to 4500 kg to a 700 km altitude Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). The rocket is based on the Long March 7 with its first stage and two boosters, along with the existing liquid hydrogen burning third stage of the Long March 3A/3B/3C and 7A as its second stage.

A planned future launch vehicle variant of the Long March 8 will be partially reusable by featuring a combined booster recovery of the first stage and the boosters as a single unit.^[1]

The maiden flight of the Long March 8 was launched on 22 December 2020 from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site.

List of launches[]

Flight number	Date (UTC)	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Outcome
1	22 December 2020 04:37^[2]^[3]	Wenchang, LC-2	(XJY-7) (Ping'an-1) (Zhixing-1A)	SSO	Success
2	TBD	Wenchang, LC-2	× 4	LEO	Planned
3	TBD	Wenchang, LC-2	Unknown	TBD	Unknown
4	TBD	Wenchang, LC-2	Unknown	TBD	Unknown
5	TBD	Wenchang, LC-2	Unknown	TBD	Unknown

References[]

^ Jones, Andrew. "China to test rocket reusability with planned Long March 8 launcher". SpaceNews. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
^ Jones, Andrew (22 December 2020). "China launches first Long March 8 from Wenchang spaceport". SpaceNews. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
^ "长征八号运载火箭首次飞行试验取得圆满成功" [First Long March 8 rocket test flight was a complete success]. CNSA (in Chinese). 22 December 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2020.

[1] Jones, Andrew. "China to test rocket reusability with planned Long March 8 launcher". SpaceNews. Retrieved 6 December 2020.

[SN20201222-2] Jones, Andrew (22 December 2020). "China launches first Long March 8 from Wenchang spaceport". SpaceNews. Retrieved 22 December 2020.

[3] "长征八号运载火箭首次飞行试验取得圆满成功" [First Long March 8 rocket test flight was a complete success]. CNSA (in Chinese). 22 December 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2020.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t Long March (rocket family)
Rockets	Feng Bao 1 Long March 1 1D Long March 2 2A 2C 2D 2E 2F Long March 3 3A 3B 3B/E 3C Long March 4 4A 4B 4C Long March 5 5B Long March 6 Long March 7 7A Long March 8 921 rocket Long March 9 Long March 11
Launch sites	Jiuquan Taiyuan Wenchang Xichang
Manufacturers	China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology
Designers	Wang Xiji
List of Long March launches

v t Orbital launch systems
List of orbital launch systems Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara A5 Antares 230+ Ariane 5 Atlas V Ceres-1 Delta IV Heavy Electron Epsilon Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha^† GSLV Mk II Mk III H-IIA Hyperbola-1 Jielong 1 Kuaizhou 1 1A 11^† Kaituozhe 2 LauncherOne Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B/E 3C 4B 4C 5 5B 6 7 7A 8 11 Minotaur I IV V C Nuri^† OS-M1^† Pegasus XL Proton-M PSLV Qased Rocket 3 Shavit 2 Simorgh^† Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB 2-1v Unha Vega Zenit 3SL 3SLB 3F Zhuque-1^†
In development	Amur Angara 1.2 Ariane 6 Bloostar Cyclone-4M Eris Firefly Beta H3 Hyperbola-2 Irtysh Kuaizhou 21 31 Long March 921 rocket 9 Miura 5 Neutron New Glenn New Line 1 OS-M 2 4 Orbex Prime Red Dwarf SLS Block 1 Block 1B Block 2 Soyuz-7 SSLV Starship Terran 1 R Vega C E Vulcan Zero Zhuque-2 Zuljanah
Retired	Antares 110 120 130^† 230 Ariane 1 2 3 4 ASLV Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able Agena Centaur Black Arrow Conestoga^† Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 II III IV Diamant Dnepr Energia Europa^† Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" Feng Bao 1 GSLV Mk I H-I H-II H-IIB Juno I Juno II Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos 1 2I 3 3M Lambda 4S Long March 1 1D^† 2A 2E 3 3B 4A Mu 4S 3C 3H 3S 3SII V N1^† N-I N-II Naro-1 Paektusan^† Pilot-2^† R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original FG L M U U2 Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna^† Safir 1 1A 1B Saturn I IB V Scout Shavit original Shavit 1 SLV Space Shuttle SPARK^† Sparta SS-520 Start-1 Thor Able Ablestar Agena Burner Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Tsyklon original 2 3 Universal Rocket UR-500 Proton Proton-K Rokot Strela Vanguard VLS-1^† Zenit 2 2M
Classes	Sounding rocket Small-lift launch vehicle Medium-lift launch vehicle Heavy-lift launch vehicle Super heavy-lift launch vehicle
This Template lists historical, current, and future space rockets that at least once attempted (but not necessarily succeeded in) an orbital launch or that are planned to attempt such a launch in the future Symbol ^† indicates past or current rockets that attempted orbital launches but never succeeded (never did or has yet to perform a successful orbital launch)

Long March 8

List of launches[]

See also[]

References[]