Long March 3

	Carrier rocket
Manufacturer	CALT
Country of origin	China
Size
Height	43.25 metres (141.9 ft)
Diameter	3.35 metres (11.0 ft)
Mass	204,000 kilograms (450,000 lb)
Stages	3
Capacity
Payload to GTO
Mass	1,500 kilograms (3,300 lb)
Associated rockets
Family	LOX
	[edit on Wikidata]

The Long March 3 (

geosynchronous transfer orbits. It was complemented and later replaced by the more powerful Long March 3A

, which has an improved third stage.

List of launches

Flight number	Date (UTC)	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Result
1	January 29, 1984 12:25	LA-3, XSLC	STTW 1	GTO (intended)	Partial Failure
2	April 8, 1984 11:20	LA-3, XSLC	STTW 2	GTO	Success
3	February 1, 1986 12:37	LA-3, XSLC	DFH-2-1	GTO	Success
4	March 7, 1988 12:41	LA-3, XSLC	ChinaSat 1)	GTO	Success
5	December 22, 1988 12:40	LA-3, XSLC	ChinaSat 2)	GTO	Success
6	February 4, 1990 12:28	LA-3, XSLC	ChinaSat 3)	GTO	Success
7	April 7, 1990 13:30	LA-3, XSLC	AsiaSat 1	GTO	Success
8	December 28, 1991 12:00	LA-3, XSLC	ChinaSat 4)	GTO (intended)	Failure
9	July 21, 1994 10:55	LA-3, XSLC	APStar 1	GTO	Success
10	July 3, 1996 10:47	LA-3, XSLC	APStar 1A	GTO	Success
11	August 18, 1996 10:27	LA-3, XSLC	ChinaSat 7	GTO (intended)	Failure
12	June 10, 1997 12:01	LA-3, XSLC	Fengyun 2A	GTO	Success
13	June 25, 2000 11:50	LA-3, XSLC	Fengyun 2B	GTO	Success

Launch failures

Dong Fang Hong 2 launch failure

On January 29, 1984, a LM-3 rocket failed during launch. The third stage failed 4 s after restart for GTO insertion of the satellite, due to incorrect mixture ratio in the engine gas generator, which caused high temperatures and burned out the turbine casing. However, many planned tests on the experimental communications spacecraft were still carried out in the resulting elliptical orbit.

ChinaSat 4 launch failure

On December 28, 1991, a LM-3 rocket failed during launch. The third-stage engine suffered a loss of turbine speed and combustion pressure 58 s after re-igniting for the second burn for GTO insertion and shut down completely 135 s after re-ignition. Loss of pressure in the high-pressure helium supply used for engine control had reduced the propellant flow.

ChinaSat 7 launch failure

On August 18, 1996 a LM-3 rocket failed during launch. The third-stage engine shut down roughly 40 s earlier than planned because of a fire in the LH2 injector of the gas generator. Insufficient purging had permitted oxygen to freeze in the gas generator during flight.

Specifications

Specifications
Series	3	3A	3B	3B/E	3C	3C/E
Model	Long March 3	Long March 3A	Long March 3B	Long March 3B/E	Long March 3C	Long March 3C/E
Stages	3	3	3 (plus 4 Strap-on boosters)	3 (plus 4 Strap-on boosters)	3 (plus 2 Strap-on boosters)	3 (plus 2 Strap-on boosters)
Length (m)	43.2	52.5	54.8	56.3	54.8	56.3
Max. diameter (m)	3.35	3.35	3.35	3.35	3.35	3.35
Liftoff mass (t)	204	241	426	459	345	378
Liftoff thrust (kN)	2,962	2,962	5,923	5,923	4,442	4,442
Payload (LEO, kg)	5,000	8,500	11,500	11,500	8,000	8,000

Launch history

The following launch statistics are gathered from the individual Wikipedia pages of each CZ-3x variants as those pages are updated more frequently by various editors; the numbers are current as of 23 February, 2023.

Long March 3 (rocket family)
Derivatives	Status	First flight	Launches	Successes	Failures	Partial failures
Long March 3	Retired	29 January 1984	13	10	2	1
Long March 3A	Active	8 February 1994	27	27	0	0
Long March 3B	Retired	14 February 1996	12	10	1	1
Long March 3B/E	Active	13 May 2007	78	76	1	1
Long March 3C	Retired	25 April 2008	12	12	0	0
Long March 3C/E	Active	23 October 2014	6	6	0	0

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Mark Wade. "CZ-3". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2008-06-01. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
^ ^a ^b Gunter Krebs. "CZ-3 (Chang Zheng-3)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2008-04-27.

[EA-1] Mark Wade. "CZ-3". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2008-06-01. Retrieved 2008-04-27.

[GSP-2] Gunter Krebs. "CZ-3 (Chang Zheng-3)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2008-04-27.

[1]

[2]

v t e Orbital launch systems
List of orbital launch systems Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara 1.2 A5 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 original C Vulcan Centaur Zhuque 2
In development	Antares 330 Ariane 6 Bloostar Cyclone-4M 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 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)

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