Saturday, June 20, 2026

China's Long March 3B returns to flight after January failure

CASC

A Long March 3B/E rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on June 16 and successfully placed the Shijian-31 space-environment-monitoring satellite into orbit, returning the workhorse booster to flight after a five-month grounding. The launcher had been sidelined since a rare January 17 failure in which a third-stage anomaly lost the Shijian-32 payload during a burn toward geostationary orbit. The mission was the 651st flight of China's Long March rocket family.