China conducts its first rocket launch of 2022
Last year, CASC carried out 48 launch missions with its Long March rockets, which are the nation's pillar space transporters. All the missions were successful, making Long March the world's busiest launch vehicle family last year.
China conducted a total of 55 orbital launches in 2021, more than any other country. The United States ranked second, with 51 launches during that period.
Developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, another subsidiary of the company, the Long March 2D has a liftoff weight of 300 metric tons and is capable of transporting multiple satellites to different orbits. It has a carrying capacity of 1.2 tons to typical sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude of 700 kilometers, a space often occupied by weather or remote-sensing satellites.
