Long March 3A

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Long March 3A
Long March 3A
Long March 3A
Fact sheet
Function Carrier rocket
Manufacturer CALT
Country of origin Flag of the People's Republic of China People's Republic of China
Size
Height 52.5 metres (172 ft)[1]
Diameter 3.35 metres (11.0 ft)[1]
Mass 241,000 kilograms (530,000 lb)[1]
Stages 3
Capacity
Payload to
LEO
8,500 kilograms (19,000 lb)[2]
Payload to
GTO
2,300 kilograms (5,100 lb)[2]
Payload to
HCO
1,600 kilograms (3,500 lb)[2]
Associated Rockets
Family Long March
Derivatives Long March 3B
Launch History
Status Active
Launch sites LC-2, XSLC
Total launches 14
Successes 14
Maiden flight 8 February 1994

The Long March 3A, also known as the Chang Zheng 3A, CZ-3A and LM-3A, is a Chinese orbital carrier rocket. It is launched from Launch Complex 2 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre. It is a 3-stage rocket, and is ususally used to place communications satellites and Beidou navigation satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbits. It first flew on 8 February 1994. On 24 October 2007, a Long March 3A launched Chang'e-1, the first Chinese Lunar probe.

It has formed the basis of the Long March 3B, which is a heavier version with four liquid booster rockets. This first flew in 1996.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Mark Wade. CZ-3A (English). Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
  2. ^ a b c Gunter Krebs. CZ-3A (Chang Zheng-3A) (English). Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.