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Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC; Chinese: 酒泉卫星发射中心; pinyin: Jiǔquán Wèixīng Fāshè Zhōngxīn also known as Shuangchengzi Missile Test Center; Launch Complex B2; formally Northwest Comprehensive Missile Testing Facility (西北综合导弹试验基地); Base 20; 63600 Unit) is a Chinese space vehicle launch facility (spaceport) located between the Ejin, Alxa, Inner Mongolia and Hangtian Town, Jinta County, Jiuquan, Gansu Province. It is part of the Dongfeng Aerospace City (Base 10). Because 95% of JSLC located in Jinta County, Jiuquan, the launch center is named after Jiuquan. The launch center straddles both sides of the Ruo Shui river.
History
It was founded in 1958, the first of China's four spaceports. As with most Chinese launch facilities, it is remote and generally closed to foreigners.
The Satellite Launch Center is a part of Dongfeng Space City (东风航天城), also known as Base 10 (十号基地) or Dongfeng base (东风基地). The Dongfeng site also includes People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) test flight facilities, a space museum and a so-called martyr's cemetery (东风烈士陵园).
JSLC is usually used to launch vehicles into lower and medium orbits with large orbital inclination angles, as well as testing medium to long-range missiles. Its facilities are state of the art and provide support to every phase of a satellite launch campaign. The site includes the Technical Center, the Launch Complex, the Launch Control Center, the Mission Command and Control Center and various other logistical support systems.
The center covers 2800 km and may have housing for as many as 20,000 people. The facilities and launch support equipment were likely modelled on Soviet counterparts and the Soviet Union likely provided technical support to Jiuquan.
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center was expanded during the Third Front campaign to develop basic industry and national defense industry in China's rugged interior to prepare for potential invasion by the Soviet Union or the United States.
The launch center has been the focus of many of China's ventures into space, including their first satelliteDong Fang Hong I
in 1970, and their first crewed space missionShenzhou 5 on 15 October 2003. As of 2021, all Chinese crewed space flights, meaning all flights in the Shenzhou program including crewed flights to the Tiangong space station, have launched from Jiuquan.
In August 2018, Chinese private rocket manufacturing startups i-Space and OneSpace launched sub-orbital rockets from the center. On 25 July 2019, the first Chinese private orbital launch took place from Jiuquan as I-Space launched their Hyperbola-1 rocket.
Launch pads
The launch site comprises two launch complexes, each containing several launch locations. All the launch statistics reported below are up to date as of December 2023.
North Launch Complex
The North Launch Complex consists in two different launch areas, both currently inactive.
Launch Area 2: used for both orbital launches and ballistic missile tests.
The South Launch complex is currently active and consists in a main launch area used by CASC to handle the launches of several Long March vehicles and a variety of concrete pads for small rocket launches.
Launch Area 4: it's situated approximately 37.9 km south of Launch Area 3.
Commercial launch pads: situated in multiple locations south and east of Launch Area 4, they're used for small rocket launches of different government-owned and private companies.
LS-95: consisting in two pads, it has hosted launches of the Long March 11, Kuaizhou, Jielong 1, OS-M1, Hyperbola-1 and Ceres-1 launch vehicles. The first launch, a test flight of the Kuaizhou-1 rocket, took place on 25 September 2013, while the last one was a Kuaizhou 1A launch on 11 January 2024.
Map of the chinese Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
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KH-7 satellite image of the Shuang Cheng Tzu Missile Center A (Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre) in 1967.
A warning board at the gate.
Launch Vehicle Vertical Assembly Building.
Tower 1 and 2 behind a sign.
Launch tower.
Launch of LM-2D (VRSS-1 / Miranda).
Roll out of CZ-2F (Shenzhou-12).
Launch of CZ-2F(Shenzhou-12).
Roll out of CZ-2F (Shenzhou-13).
Roll out of CZ-2F (Shenzhou 14).
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