China's most powerful launch vehicle for geostationary and lunar missions for many years, used to launch the Chang'e lunar probes and Beidou navigation satellites. Its 1996 debut flight ended in a catastrophic launch-pad failure that destroyed a nearby village, one of the deadliest incidents in launch history.
Facts
Vehicle ClassHeavy-lift expendable launch vehicle 2 ManufacturerChina Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology 2 First Flight DateDate of its catastrophic debut failure; subsequent flights have been the mainstay of China's geostationary and lunar launch program. StatusOperational, China's workhorse for geostationary-transfer and lunar missions. 2 Status
Status (category) Connections
Has Vehicle Class
Source Orbit Codex: Long March 3B record
Operated By
Source Encyclopedia Astronautica
In the Other Atlases
Manufactured By
Also in Business Atlas: the manufacturer of this subject.
Sources
1. Long March 3B (Wikipedia)
Introduction
As of 26 December 2025, the Long March 3B, 3B/E and 3B/G5 have conducted 110 successful launches, plus 2 failures and 2 partial failures, accumulating a success rate of 96.5%.
In Group: Long March Rocket Family, Lead sentence
The Long March 3B (Chinese: 长征三号乙; pinyin: Chángzhēng sānhàoyǐ), also known as the CZ-3B and LM-3B, is a Chinese orbital launch vehicle.
View the Source2. Encyclopedia Astronautica
Orbit Codex: Long March 3B record
Orbit CodexHas Vehicle Class: Heavy-Lift Launch Vehicle, BackgroundQuote, Has Vehicle Class: Heavy-Lift Launch Vehicle, Background
The Long March 3B is a retired Chinese heavy-lift launch vehicle
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