Long March 3
Encyclopedia
The Long March 3 also known as the Chang Zheng 3, CZ-3 and LM-3, was a Chinese
orbit
al carrier rocket. It was launched from Launch Complex 1 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre. It was a 3-stage rocket, and was mostly used to place DFH-2-class communications satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbits. It first flew on 29 January 1984. It was replaced by the more powerful Long March 3A
, which has an improved third stage.
The Long March 3 suffered third stage reliability issues. The upper stage failed to ignite on two launches, and cut off early on a third.
On 15 February, 1996, the Long March 3B rocket carrying Intelsat 708
failed at launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center
. The rocket veered off course immediately after launch, crashing in the nearby village only 22 seconds later and destroying 80 houses. According to official Chinese reports 6 deaths and 57 injuries resulted from the incident; third-party accounts estimated 100 fatalities.
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
orbit
Orbit
In physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space, for example the orbit of a planet around the center of a star system, such as the Solar System...
al carrier rocket. It was launched from Launch Complex 1 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre. It was a 3-stage rocket, and was mostly used to place DFH-2-class communications satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbits. It first flew on 29 January 1984. It was replaced by the more powerful Long March 3A
Long March 3A
The Long March 3A , also known as the Chang Zheng 3A, CZ-3A and LM-3A, is a Chinese orbital carrier rocket. It is a 3-stage rocket, and is usually used to place communications satellites and Beidou navigation satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbits.It has formed the basis of the Long March...
, which has an improved third stage.
The Long March 3 suffered third stage reliability issues. The upper stage failed to ignite on two launches, and cut off early on a third.
On 15 February, 1996, the Long March 3B rocket carrying Intelsat 708
Intelsat 708
Intelsat 708 was a telecommunications satellite built by the American company Space Systems/Loral intended to be launched into a geostationary orbit and operated by Intelsat...
failed at launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center
Xichang Satellite Launch Center
The Xichang Satellite Launch Center also known as Base 27 , is a People’s Republic of China space vehicle launch facility approximately 64 km northwest of Xichang City, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province....
. The rocket veered off course immediately after launch, crashing in the nearby village only 22 seconds later and destroying 80 houses. According to official Chinese reports 6 deaths and 57 injuries resulted from the incident; third-party accounts estimated 100 fatalities.