Taiyuan Launch Complex 1
| Launch site | Taiyuan | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short name | LC-1 | ||||||||||||
| Launch pad(s) | One | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Launch Complex 1, also known as Pad 1, is a Long March launch complex at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre.[1] It consists of a single launch pad, which has been used by Long March 2C, Long March 4A, Long March 4B and Long March 4C carrier rockets. Until the activation of Launch Complex 2 in 2008, it was the only launch site for Long March 4 rockets. Long March 4 launches have since also occurred from Jiuquan.[2]
The first spacecraft to be launched from LC-1 was Feng Yun 1A, on the maiden flight of the Long March 4A, on 19 November 1999.[3] The Long March 4A was retired in 1990 after just two launches. Between 1995 and 2002 three Long March 1D rockets were launched from Taiyuan on suborbital flights,[1] and orbital launches resumed in the late 1990s when seven Long March 2C/SD rockets were launched; the first on a test flight, and the six subsequent launches each carrying two Iridium satellites. Long March 4 launches resumed in 1999, with the Long March 4B and later the Long March 4C. The most recent launch from the complex was on 22 April 2009, when a Long March 2C launched the Yaogan 6 satellite.[4]
References
- 1 2 Wade, Mark. "Taiyuan". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
- ↑ Barbosa, Rui C (5 March 2010). "China launch YaoGan Weixing-9, announce increase in vehicle production". NASASpaceflight.com. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
- ↑ Wade, Mark. "Taiyuan LC1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
- ↑ Barbosa, Rui C (22 April 2009). "Chinese launch again with YaoGan Weixing-6 remote sensing satellite". NASASpaceflight.com. Retrieved 7 March 2010.