Long March 5
Sign in to saveAlso known as Changzheng 5, LM-5, CZ-5, Chang Zheng 5
Chinese next-generation heavy lift launch system
Key facts
- Function
- Heavy-lift launch vehicle
- Manufacturer
- CALT
- Country of origin
- China
- Cost per launch
- ~US$160 million
- Height
- 56.97 m (186.9 ft) (standard), 63.2 m (207 ft) (extended fairing)
- Diameter
- 5 m (16 ft)
- Mass
- 851,800 kg (1,877,900 lb)
- Altitude
- 200 km × 400 km (120 mi × 250 mi)
- Family
- Long March
- Comparable
- Delta IV Falcon 9 Proton-M Angara A5
- Status
- Active
- Launch sites
- Wenchang , LC-1
- Total launches
- 17 CZ-5: 10 CZ-5B: 7
- Success es
- 16 CZ-5: 9 CZ-5B: 7
- Failure
- 1 (CZ-5)
- First flight
- CZ-5: 3 November 2016 CZ-5B: 5 May 2020
- Last flight
- CZ-5: 20 December 2025 ( most recent ) CZ-5B: 13 August 2025 ( most recent )
- Carries passengers or cargo
- Mengzhou Chang'e Project Tiangong modules Hulianwang
via Wikipedia infobox
~14 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Long March 5 (LM-5; Chinese: 长征五号; pinyin: Chángzhēng wǔ hào) or Changzheng 5 (CZ-5), also known by its nickname "Pang-Wu" (胖五, "Fat-Five"), is a Chinese heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT). The most powerful Chinese rocket and Long March rocket ever built, it is also the most powerful orbital launch vehicle operating outside of the United States. First launched in 2016, CZ-5 has carried cornerstones of the Chinese space program: all three modules of the Tiangong space station, two Moon sample returns, and one Mars mission.
There are two CZ-5 variants: CZ-5 and CZ-5B. The maximum payload capacities are approximately 25,000 kg (55,000 lb) to low Earth orbit (for CZ-5B) and approximately 14,000 kg (31,000 lb) to geostationary transfer orbit (for CZ-5). This makes the CZ-5B the world's fifth most powerful orbital launch vehicle by payload to LEO and the CZ-5 the second most powerful by payload to GTO, comparable to the US Vulcan Centaur, ESA Ariane 6, and Russian Angara A5. The hydrolox core stage uses two YF-77 engines, while its four kerolox boosters each use two YF-100 engines, ultimately derived from the Soviet RD-120. The hydrolox second stage uses two YF-75D engines. The Yuanzheng-2 third stage, only used on the CZ-5 variant, is powered by two hypergolic N2O4/UDMH YF-50D engines.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Long March 5” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.