Latest news, expected in 2027!

Recently, Yi Rong, chief designer of the Long March 2F carrier rocket of the First Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, was interviewed by a reporter from CCTV. Yi Rong introduced that this year my country's Long March series of carrier rockets will usher in the 500th launch.

The 500th launch of the Long March rocket series will be held in 2023

It is easy to introduce that in recent years, my country's Long March series of carrier rockets have maintained a high-density launch. This year, the number of flight tests of the Long March series of carrier rockets will continue to remain high, and the number of launches will exceed 60 times, showing the characteristics of high-density normalization.

Yi Rong, chief designer of the Long March 2F carrier rocket of the First Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation: This year, the Long March 2F carrier rocket will launch the Shenzhou 16 and Shenzhou 17 manned spacecraft, and the Long March 7 will also launch a cargo spacecraft. The main model Long March 2C rocket has also been launched more than 10 times this year, and the Long March 3A series of carrier rockets, Long March 5, Long March 5B, Long March 7, Long March 7A and other new generation carrier rockets will also meet you one by one.

To put it simply, in the fourth quarter of this year, the Long March series of launch vehicles will also have their 500th launch, less than two years after the 400th launch.

The Long March 2F rocket will carry out two manned launches this year

Among the more than 60 launch missions this year, the Long March 2F carrier rocket, known as the "magic arrow", will undertake two manned launch missions, transporting two groups of astronauts to the space station and performing tasks during the space station operation phase. In the next decade, two manned rocket launches per year will become the norm.

Yi Rong, chief designer of the Long March 2F carrier rocket of the First Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation: Our Long March 2F manned carrier rocket will basically undertake two manned spacecraft launch missions a year. In the subsequent operation phase of the Chinese space station, our rocket will continue to improve its reliability, including some process improvements, some component upgrades, and some minor improvements. In addition, as the mission progresses, we will continue to optimize the test process related to the launch site.

Since its first flight in 1999, the Long March 2F rocket has successfully launched 15 Shenzhou spacecraft and two space laboratories, including 10 manned launch missions, sending 16 and 26 astronauts safely into space.

my country's new generation of manned rocket is expected to make its first flight in 2027

During the interview, the reporter learned that the development of my country's new generation of manned carrier rockets is also progressing in an orderly manner, and it is expected to be ready for its first flight in 2027.

The new-generation manned carrier rocket is a newly developed manned rocket in accordance with my country's manned space engineering development plan, designed to launch my country's new-generation manned spacecraft and lunar lander. Its maiden flight is scheduled for 2027.

Yi Rong, chief designer of the Long March 2F launch vehicle of the First Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation: At present, various research and development work is being carried out in an orderly and rapid manner. The core stage has a diameter of 5 meters, and the booster is 5 meters in diameter. In order to meet the needs of manned landing on the moon, the future lunar orbit carrying capacity is 27 tons, and the near-Earth orbit carrying capacity is about 70 tons.

To put it simply, the new generation of manned rockets will draw on the successful experience of the Long March 2F manned rocket and add a number of new technologies such as intelligent flight to further enhance the reliability of the rocket.