On the evening of December 14, 2023, the Long March-2F T carrier rocket carrying a reusable test spacecraft was successfully launched from station 921 of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
This mission is the third flight test of China's reusable test spacecraft. After a period of orbit operation, the test spacecraft will return to its intended landing site in China, during which it will carry out reusable technology verification and space science experiments. The first flight of China's reusable test spacecraft was from September 4 to 6, 2020, with a flight duration of 2 days, and the second flight was from August 5, 2022 to May 8, 2023, with a flight duration of 276 days.
Long March-2F T launch vehicle
The "Chang-2F" rocket is a rocket specially developed for manned missions, and is a rocket developed on the basis of the "Chang-2E" rocket in accordance with the requirements for launching manned spacecraft. The rocket is a medium-sized two-stage semi-normal temperature liquid launch vehicle, which is composed of four boosters around the core first stage, the core second stage, and the core first stage, and the main power of the whole rocket adopts nitrogen tetroxide/metamethylhydrazine propellant. The arrow is currently in use as the "Chang 2F" improved type (CZ-2F/G), which is divided into the Y series for manned spacecraft launch missions and the T series for launching missions such as the "Tiangong" series space laboratory, the former is equipped with a diameter of 3.8 meters for manned spacecraft fairing, and an escape tower is installed, and the latter uses a diameter of 4.2 meters fairing, and the capacity is slightly stronger than the former.
Long March-2F T2 launch vehicle (Tiangong-2)
The Chang-2F T rocket is 52.03 meters long, has a take-off mass of 493.1 tons, and has a low-earth orbit capacity of 200 kilometers at a perigee, 350 kilometers at an apogee and an inclination of 42 degrees. Since its first flight, the Chang-2F T rocket has carried out two launches from the Tiangong laboratory and three reusable test spacecraft. At the same time, this launch is also the 22nd launch of the "Chang-2F" rocket, including 17 "Chang-2F" Y rocket launches.
Long March-2F T launch vehicle
This launch is the third launch of the "Chang-2F" rocket in 2023, the 32nd launch of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, the 60th launch of China, and the 203rd launch of the world.
Author: Mulan Xingzhou