China successfully launched a Long March 4C from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre, China at 1745 GMT on 20 August, marking the 484th flight mission of the Long March series carrier rockets.
The vehicle was carrying Gaofen 12-04, a remote sensing Earth observation satellite which will be used for land surveys, road planning, crop yield estimation and disaster relief. The satellite has entered its planned orbit successfully according to reports.
China’s Long March launch vehicle series has its origins in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Officially, they are designated as “CZ” for Chang Zheng – which translates as Long March. The Long March 4 (CZ-4) delivers mainly to sun-synchronous orbits while the Long March 2F (CZ-2F) variant is used for manned spaceflight (including launches of the Shenzhou spacecraft) and Long March 3 (CZ-3) variants deliver satellites to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).
The launch was the 484th flight of the Long March series carrier rockets. Source: Xinhua.
