Past launch
Launched successfully
Tianwen-2
Long March 3B/E, flown by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
Launches / Long March 3B/E
Long March 3B/E, flown by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
This was China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation's 24th launch of 2025, and its 525th in all.
Counting every operator, it was the 118th orbital launch attempt anywhere in 2025, and the fifth from Launch Complex 2 (LC-2).
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
Tianwen-2 is a planned Chinese asteroid sample return and comet orbiter mission due for launch in May 2025. The spacecraft will visit the Near Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa (2016 HO3), collecting samples from its surface using both touch-and-go and anchor-and-drill approaches. It will return the samples back to Earth around 2.5 years after launch, with the main spacecraft proceeding to visit the main-belt comet 311P/PANSTARRS in the mid-2030s.
The Long March 3B / E (G2) (CZ-3B / E) is one of the most successful medium-range launchers and the strongest variant of the CZ-3 series. It was specially developed for the transport of heavy communications satellites into a geostationary transfer orbit. The additional designation "E" stands for a higher payload fairing, stretched boosters and extended fuel tanks at the first stage, over the CZ-3B.
78 flights, 76 of them successful.
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is the main contractor for the Chinese space program. It is state-owned and has a number of subordinate entities which design, develop and manufacture a range of spacecraft, launch vehicles, strategic and tactical missile systems, and ground equipment. It was officially established in July 1999 as part of a Chinese government reform drive, having previously been one part of the former China Aerospace Corporation. Various incarnations of the program date back to 1956.
612 launches so far, 596 of them successful. The last 3 in a row went to plan.
It went up from Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) at Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China.
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