Long March 2

Long March 2 rocket family or Chang Zheng 2 rocket family as in Chinese pinyin is an expendable launch system operated by the People's Republic of China. The rockets use the abbreviations LM-2 family for export, and CZ-2 family within China, as "Chang Zheng" means "Long March" in Chinese pinyin. They are part of the larger Long March rocket family. Development and design falls mostly under the auspices of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT).

History

Long March 2 was the original model in the Long March 2 rocket family, which was derived from China's first ICBM, the DF-5. The development work began in 1970. The first rocket was launched on November 5, 1974,^[1] but the launch failed. After the failed first launch of Long March 2, its design was slightly modified and designated as Long March 2A. Long March 2A was successfully launched in 1975.^[2] The production of the Long March 2A ended in 1979.

Long March 2C and Long March 2D's first launches occurred in 1982 and 1992 respectively.

The Long March 2E was the first in the Long March rocket family to introduce liquid rocket boosters, as well as a solid rocket perigee kick stage, to improve its GTO payload capacity to satisfy the domestic and international launch market in the 1990s. It was first launched in 1992. However, the Long March 2E had problems with excessive vibration, destroying the Optus B2 and Apstar 2 satellites and damaging AsiaSat 2.^[3]^[4] After 2 failures and 1 partial failure, the Long March 2E was withdrawn from the market after just 5 years in operation.

The development of Long March 2F began in 1992 as a human-rated version of the Long March 2E.^[5] Its first launch was in November 1999 (See also Shenzhou 1). This version is the safest model in the Long March 2 family, with 11 launches and no failure record. An unmanned derivative called Long March 2F/G carries the bulkier Tiangong space laboratories.^[6]

Long March 2D and Long March 4 were developed by the Shanghai Academy of Space Flight Technology (SAST), while all others are developed by CALT.

Long March 3

The designations Long March 2A and Long March 2B were originally applied to design studies of Long March 2 derivatives for geostationary payloads. Long March 2A would use a cryogenic third stage, and Long March 2B a hypergolic one. Neither design was finalized. The 2A design was adopted as the Long March 3.^[7]

Specifications

Specifications
Series	2A	2C	2D	2E	2F
Model	Long March 2A	Long March 2C	Long March 2D	Long March 2E	Long March 2F
Stages	2	2	2	3 (plus 4 Strap-on boosters)	2 (plus 4 Strap-on boosters)
Length (m)	31.170	35.150	33.667 (Sans fairings)	49.686	62
Max. diameter (m)	3.35	3.35	3.35	7.85	7.85
Liftoff mass (t)	190	192	232	462	464
Liftoff thrust (kN)	2786	2786	2962	5923	6512
Payload (LEO, kg)	1800	2400	3100	9200	8400

Launch history

The following launch statistics are gathered from the individual Wikipedia pages of each CZ-2x variants as those pages are updated more frequently by various editors; the numbers are current as of 13 November, 2023.

Long March 2 (rocket family)
Derivatives	Status	First flight	Launches	Successes	Failures	Partial Failures
Long March 2	Retired	5 November 1974	1	0	1	0
Long March 2A	Retired	26 November 1975	3	3	0	0
Long March 2C	Active	9 September 1982	75	74	1	0
Long March 2D	Active	9 August 1992	83	82	0	1
Long March 2E	Retired	16 July 1990	7	4	1	2
Long March 2F	Active	19 November 1999	21	21	0	0

Launches by rocket configurations

1970–2009

1

2

3

4

5

1974

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2005

2009

Long March 2/2A
Long March 2C
Long March 2D
Long March 2E
Long March 2F

2010–2024

3

6

9

12

15

18

21

24

27

30

2010

'12

2015

'18

2020

'22

'23

'24

Long March 2C
Long March 2D
Long March 2F

References

^ "Go Taikonauts! - Launch Vehicle". Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
^ Torishima, Shinya (2014-12-08). "中国の長征ロケット・シリーズ、200機目の打ち上げを達成" [China's Long March Rockets Achieve 200 Launches]. Archived from the original on 2017-08-28. Retrieved 2017-08-28.
^ Zinger, Kurtis J. (26 October 2014). "An Overreaction that Destroyed an Industry: The Past, Present, and Future of U.S. Satellite Export Controls" (PDF). University of Colorado Law Review. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 April 2022.
^ "CZ-2E Space Launch Vehicle". GlobalSecurity.org.
^ "Space Launchers - Long March". Retrieved 21 April 2015.
^ Jones, Morris (2016-01-27). "Last Launch for Long March 2F/G". Space Daily. Retrieved 2016-04-07. The principal difference between the Shenzhou-launching Long March 2F and its 2F/G cousin is easy to spot. The 2F/G carries a very different payload fairing at its top. This accounts. for the larger dimensions of the Tiangong laboratory, which wouldn't fit inside the standard payload fairing for the 2F.
It also lacks an emergency escape system. With no astronauts on board, the escape rocket and stabilizer panels that help Shenzhou spacecraft to separate from their rocket in a launch failure are not needed. This simplifies the design and also reduces the weight of the rocket. That's critical. Tiangong modules weigh more than Shenzhou spacecraft, so this helps to keep the overall launch mass within performance limits.
^ Wu, Min (2013-06-17). "长征谱系：在研重型火箭运载能力为现役型号6倍" [Long March Rocket Family: Heavy Launcher in Development Would Have Six Times Greater Capability] (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved 2017-08-28.

[1] "Go Taikonauts! - Launch Vehicle". Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2015.

[200-launchs-2] Torishima, Shinya (2014-12-08). "中国の長征ロケット・シリーズ、200機目の打ち上げを達成" [China's Long March Rockets Achieve 200 Launches]. Archived from the original on 2017-08-28. Retrieved 2017-08-28.

[zinger2014-3] Zinger, Kurtis J. (26 October 2014). "An Overreaction that Destroyed an Industry: The Past, Present, and Future of U.S. Satellite Export Controls" (PDF). University of Colorado Law Review. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 April 2022.

[globalsecurity-4] "CZ-2E Space Launch Vehicle". GlobalSecurity.org.

[5] "Space Launchers - Long March". Retrieved 21 April 2015.

[2fg-6] Jones, Morris (2016-01-27). "Last Launch for Long March 2F/G". Space Daily. Retrieved 2016-04-07. The principal difference between the Shenzhou-launching Long March 2F and its 2F/G cousin is easy to spot. The 2F/G carries a very different payload fairing at its top. This accounts. for the larger dimensions of the Tiangong laboratory, which wouldn't fit inside the standard payload fairing for the 2F.
It also lacks an emergency escape system. With no astronauts on board, the escape rocket and stabilizer panels that help Shenzhou spacecraft to separate from their rocket in a launch failure are not needed. This simplifies the design and also reduces the weight of the rocket. That's critical. Tiangong modules weigh more than Shenzhou spacecraft, so this helps to keep the overall launch mass within performance limits.

[7] Wu, Min (2013-06-17). "长征谱系：在研重型火箭运载能力为现役型号6倍" [Long March Rocket Family: Heavy Launcher in Development Would Have Six Times Greater Capability] (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved 2017-08-28.

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v t e Long March (rocket family)
Rockets	Feng Bao 1 Long March 1 1D Long March 2 2A 2C 2D 2E 2F Long March 3 3A 3B 3B/E 3C Long March 4 4A 4B 4C Long March 5 5B Long March 6 6A 6C Long March 7 7A Long March 8 8A Long March 9 Long March 10 Long March 11 Long March 12
Launch sites	Jiuquan Taiyuan Wenchang Commercial Xichang
Manufacturers	China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology
Designers	Wang Xiji
List of Long March launches

v t e Orbital launch systems
List of orbital launch systems Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara 1.2 A5 Ariane 6 Atlas V Ceres 1 1S Chollima-1 Electron Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Gravity-1 GSLV H-IIA H3 Hyperbola-1 Jielong 1 3 KAIROS^† Kaituozhe 2 Kinetica 1 Kuaizhou 1 1A 11 Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B/E 3C 4B 4C 5 5B 6 6A 7 7A 8 11 11H LVM3 Minotaur I IV V C Nuri OS-M1^† Pegasus XL Proton-M PSLV Qaem 100 Qased RS1^† Shavit 2 Simorgh SLS Block 1 Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB 2-1v SSLV Starship Tianlong-2 Unha Vega C Vulcan Centaur Zhuque 2
In development	Antares 330 Bloostar Cyclone-4M Deca Epsilon S Eris Gravity-2 Hyperbola-2 Irtysh Kuaizhou 21 31 Long March 9 10 12 Miura 5 MLV Neutron New Glenn New Line 1 NGLV Nova OS-M 2 4 Orbex Prime Pallas-1 Red Dwarf SLS Block 1B Block 2 Soyuz-7 Terran R Tianlong-3 VLM Vega E Zero Zhuque 3 Zuljanah
Retired	Antares 110 120 130^† 230 230+ Ariane 1 2 3 4 5 ASLV Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able^† Agena Centaur Black Arrow Conestoga^† Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 II III IV IV Heavy Diamant Dnepr Energia Epsilon Europa I^† II^† Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" Feng Bao 1 GSLV Mk I H-I H-II H-IIB Juno I Juno II Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos original 1 2/2I 3 3M Lambda 4S LauncherOne Long March 1 1D^† 2A 2E 3 3B 4A Mu 4S 3C 3H 3S 3SII V N1^† N-I N-II Naro-1 Paektusan^† Pilot-2^† R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original FG L M U U2 Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna^† Rocket 3 Safir 1 1A 1B Saturn I IB V Scout X-1 Blue Scout II^† X-2^† X-2M X-3 X-3M X-4 X-2B^† B A B-1 D-1 A-1 E-1 F-1 G-1 Shavit original 1 SLV Space Shuttle SPARK^† Sparta SS-520 Start-1 Terran 1^† Thor Able Ablestar 1 2 Agena A B D Burner 1 2 Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena SLV-2G SLV-2H Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Tsyklon R-36-O original 2 3 Universal Rocket UR-500 Proton Proton-K Rokot Strela Vanguard Vega original VLS-1^† Zenit 2 2M 2FG 3SL 3SLB 3F Zhuque 1^†
Classes	Sounding rocket Small-lift launch vehicle Medium-lift launch vehicle Heavy-lift launch vehicle Super heavy-lift launch vehicle
This Template lists historical, current, and future space rockets that at least once attempted (but not necessarily succeeded in) an orbital launch or that are planned to attempt such a launch in the future Symbol ^† indicates past or current rockets that attempted orbital launches but never succeeded (never did or has yet to perform a successful orbital launch)