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37-664: Download coordinates as: The Xichang Satellite Launch Center ( XSLC ), also known as the Xichang Space Center , is a spaceport in China . It is located in Zeyuan Town ( 泽远镇 ), approximately 64 kilometers (40 mi) northwest of Xichang , Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan . The facility became operational in 1984 and is used to launch numerous civil, scientific, and military payloads annually. It

74-470: A 27% premium for satellite insurance instead of the usual 17–20%. Although the satellite was delivered to the correct orbit, the launch was a partial failure. Excessive forces during the launch caused a misalignment of the antenna feed horns on the Ku-band transponders, reducing the satellite's coverage area. AsiaSat filed a satellite insurance claim for US$ 58 million. After one more successful launch,

111-823: A Node 3 spaceport on the Martian moon Phobos to enable refueling and resupply prior to Mars surface landings, missions beyond Mars, and return trips to Earth. In addition to propellant mining and refueling, the network of spaceports could provide services such as power storage and distribution, in-space assembly and repair of spacecraft, communications relay, shelter, construction and leasing of infrastructure, maintaining spacecraft positioned for future use, and logistics. Space launch facilities have been colonial developments and have also been impacting its surroundings by destroying or polluting their environment, creating precarious cleanup situations. Long March 2E The Long March 2E made its maiden flight on 16 July 1990. However,

148-493: A driving factor in spaceport placement because most of the delta-v for a launch is spent on achieving the required horizontal orbital speed . The small gain from a few kilometers of extra altitude does not usually off-set the logistical costs of ground transport in mountainous terrain. Many spaceports have been placed at existing military installations, such as intercontinental ballistic missile ranges, which are not always physically ideal sites for launch. A rocket launch site

185-524: A nearby village. Uncontrolled debris from launches continues to fall in the vicinity, most recently in December 2023 and June 2024. A 2007 test of an anti-satellite missile was launched from the center. In order to support the Chinese Project 714 crewed space program in the 1960s, the construction of a new space center at Xichang in the Sichuan province was decided, located farther from

222-685: A structurally-deficient fairing. However, Liu Jiyuan, the Director of the China Aerospace Corporation , claimed that the rocket-satellite interface was at fault and threatened never to do business with Hughes again. The two sides finally agreed that the interface and the fairing would both be redesigned. The information provided by Hughes caused great political controversy in the United States, since it could be used to improve Chinese rockets and ballistic missiles. In 1998,

259-471: A table of spaceports and launch complexes for vertical launchers with documented achieved launches of humans to space (more than 100 km (62 mi) altitude). The sorting order is spaceport by spaceport according to the time of the first human launch. † Three of the Soyuz missions were uncrewed and are not counted ( Soyuz 2 , Soyuz 20 , Soyuz 34 ). ‡ STS-51-L ( Challenger ) failed to reach orbit and

296-430: A viewing platform for officials has been built at the site. China launched its first Long March-2E carrier rocket on 16 July 1990, sending into orbit Pakistan 's first indigenously developed Badr-1 satellite and HS-601 . On 15 February 1996, a fatal accident occurred when the first new Long March 3B heavy carrier rocket carrying Intelsat 708 veered off course 22 seconds after launch, crashing 1200 meters away from

333-566: Is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft , by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word spaceport , and even more so cosmodrome , has traditionally been used for sites capable of launching spacecraft into orbit around Earth or on interplanetary trajectories. However, rocket launch sites for purely sub-orbital flights are sometimes called spaceports, as in recent years new and proposed sites for suborbital human flights have been frequently referred to or named "spaceports". Space stations and proposed future bases on

370-566: Is built as far as possible away from major population centers in order to mitigate risk to bystanders should a rocket experience a catastrophic failure. In many cases a launch site is built close to major bodies of water to ensure that no components are shed over populated areas. Typically a spaceport site is large enough that, should a vehicle explode, it will not endanger human lives or adjacent launch pads. Planned sites of spaceports for sub-orbital tourist spaceflight often make use of existing ground infrastructure, including runways. The nature of

407-1013: Is currently under construction, as of December 2019. Three launch complexes were planned, and two were built: Launch Complex 1 (LC-1) , not built, was intended as the Shuguang launch site, later used as a viewing area. Launch Complex 2 (LC-2 or LA-2) , located at 28°14′44″N 102°01′36″E  /  28.24550°N 102.02678°E  / 28.24550; 102.02678  ( Launch Complex 2 (LC-2 or LA-2) ) , and used for launching Long March 2E , Long March 3A , Long March 3B and Long March 3C rockets. Launch Complex 3 (LC-3 or LA-3) , also known as LA-1 , and located at 28°14′50″N 102°01′45″E  /  28.2471400°N 102.0291100°E  / 28.2471400; 102.0291100  ( Launch Complex 3 (LC-3 or LA-3) ) . Used for launching Long March 2C , Long March 3 , Long March 3A and Long March 3B rockets. Demolished and rebuilt between 2005 and 2006. Upgraded in order to support

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444-452: Is not counted. STS-107 ( Columbia ) reached orbit and is therefore included in the count (disaster struck on re-entry). Crewed Missions failed to reach Kármán line: Soyuz T-10a (1983) STS-51-L (1986) Soyuz MS-10 (2018) The following is a table of spaceports with a documented achieved launch to orbit. The table is sorted according to the time of the first launch that achieved satellite orbit insertion. The first column gives

481-580: Is notable as the site of Sino-European space cooperation, with the launch of the first of two Double Star scientific satellites in December 2003. Chinese officials have indicated interest in conducting additional international satellite launches from XSLC. In 1996, a fatal accident occurred when the rocket carrying the Intelsat 708 satellite failed on launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, killing at least 6 people in

518-436: Is serviced by a dedicated railway and highway directly from Xichang Qingshan Airport and Manshuiwan railway station , which is about 50 kilometers (31 mi) away from the launch site. Two launch complexes at the facility support flight operations. 28°14′45.66″N 102°1′35.60″E  /  28.2460167°N 102.0265556°E  / 28.2460167; 102.0265556 Spaceport A spaceport or cosmodrome

555-557: Is the major European spaceport, with satellite launches that benefit from the location 5 degrees north of the equator. In October 2003 the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center achieved the first Chinese human spaceflight. Breaking with tradition, in June 2004 on a runway at Mojave Air and Space Port , California, a human was for the first time launched to space in a privately funded, suborbital spaceflight, that

592-565: The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program . Demolished and rebuilt again between 2013 and 2015. Mobile Launcher Pad , is used by CASIC 's Kuaizhou-1A rocket to launch from Xichang. XSLC's Technical Center is equipped for testing and integration of the payload and launch vehicle. Its Mission Command and Control Center is located 7 kilometers (4.3 mi) southwest of the launch pads, and provides flight and safety control during overall system rehearsal and launch. It

629-454: The Earth's rotational speed (465 m/s at the equator). Such launches also provide a desirable orientation for arriving at a geostationary orbit . For polar orbits and Molniya orbits this does not apply. In principle, advantages of high altitude launch are reduced vertical distance to travel and a thinner atmosphere for the rocket to penetrate. However, altitude of the launch site is not

666-840: The Moon , Mars , orbiting the Earth, at Sun-Earth and Earth-Moon Lagrange points , and at other locations in the Solar System . Human-tended outposts on the Moon or Mars, for example, will be spaceports by definition. The 2012 Space Studies Program of the International Space University studied the economic benefit of a network of spaceports throughout the solar system beginning from Earth and expanding outwardly in phases, within its team project Operations And Service Infrastructure for Space (OASIS). Its analysis claimed that

703-529: The Soviet border, thus safer. This construction was part of the Third Front campaign to develop basic industry and national security industry in the rugged interior of China to prepare for potential United States or Soviet Union invasion. The Shuguang One spacecraft was expected to be launched from the launch pad number one. After the cancellation of the program, the launch pad was never completed. Today,

740-561: The Fengyun series, at an altitude of 865 kilometers (537 mi), with a mass of 750 kg — was destroyed by a kinetic kill vehicle. The SC-19 has been described as being based on a modified DF-21 ballistic missile or its commercial derivative, the KT-2 with a Kinetic Kill Vehicle and is fully mobile. On October 24, 2007, Chang'e 1 , an un-crewed Moon orbiter of the Chang'e program ,

777-463: The Long March 2E was retired at the end of 1995. ^note Original launch attempt on 22 March 1992 at 10:40 UTC was aborted after engine ignition due to one booster engine igniter shutdown after metal contaminants caused electric arcing. Launch vehicle suffered damage and had to be replaced. ^note Excessive forces during the launch caused a misalignment of the antenna feed horns on

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814-406: The Moon are sometimes called spaceports, in particular if intended as a base for further journeys. The term rocket launch site is used for any facility from which rockets are launched. It may contain one or more launch pads or suitable sites to mount a transportable launch pad. It is typically surrounded by a large safety area, often called a rocket range or missile range . The range includes

851-630: The U.S. Congress classified satellite technology as a munition and gave control over export licenses to the State Department under ITAR . No export licenses to China have been approved since 1998, and an official at the United States Bureau of Industry and Security emphasized in 2016 that "no U.S.-origin content, regardless of significance, regardless of whether it's incorporated into a foreign-made item, can go to China". The return-to-flight payload, AsiaSat 2 , had to pay

888-958: The area over which launched rockets are expected to fly, and within which some components of the rockets may land. Tracking stations are sometimes located in the range to assess the progress of the launches. Major spaceports often include more than one launch complex , which can be rocket launch sites adapted for different types of launch vehicles . (These sites can be well-separated for safety reasons.) For launch vehicles with liquid propellant, suitable storage facilities and, in some cases, production facilities are necessary. On-site processing facilities for solid propellants are also common. A spaceport may also include runways for takeoff and landing of aircraft to support spaceport operations, or to enable support of HTHL or horizontal takeoff and vertical landing (HTVL) winged launch vehicles. The first rockets to reach space were V-2 rockets launched from Peenemünde , Germany in 1944 during World War II . After

925-519: The cosmodrome was initially held secret. Guesses to its location were misdirected by a name in common with a mining town 320 km away. The position became known in 1957 outside the Soviet Union only after U-2 planes had identified the site by following railway lines in the Kazakh SSR , although Soviet authorities did not confirm the location for decades. The Baikonur Cosmodrome achieved

962-675: The early human flights, were carried out at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station . For the Apollo programme, an adjacent spaceport, Kennedy Space Center , was constructed, and achieved the first crewed mission to the lunar surface ( Apollo 11 ) in July 1969. It was the base for all Space Shuttle launches and most of their runway landings. For details on the launch complexes of the two spaceports, see List of Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island launch sites . The Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana,

999-431: The failures were caused by excessive vibration. The first partial failure occurred on 21 December 1992, during the launch of the original Optus B2 . Windshear caused the payload fairing to implode 45 seconds into flight, destroying the satellite. The rocket continued to orbit, deploying what was left of the upper stage and payload into a low Earth orbit . U.S. satellite manufacturer Hughes recommended reinforcement of

1036-408: The fairing. However, China chose not to follow the recommendation and instead added more rivets for the successful launch of Optus B3 . The second failure occurred on 25 January 1995 during the launch of Apstar 2 , when the rocket exploded 50 seconds after liftoff. Based on readings from instrumentation that it added to the satellite, Hughes concluded that wind shear had again caused the collapse of

1073-539: The first launch of a human into space ( Yuri Gagarin ) in 1961. The launch complex used, Site 1, has reached a special symbolic significance and is commonly called Gagarin's Start . Baikonur was the primary Soviet cosmodrome, and is still frequently used by Russia under a lease arrangement with Kazakhstan. In response to the early Soviet successes, the United States built up a major spaceport complex at Cape Canaveral in Florida. A large number of uncrewed flights, as well as

1110-561: The first phase, placing the "Node 1" spaceport with space tug services in low Earth orbit (LEO), would be commercially profitable and reduce transportation costs to geosynchronous orbit by as much as 44% (depending on the launch vehicle). The second phase would add a Node 2 spaceport on the lunar surface to provide services including lunar ice mining and delivery of rocket propellants back to Node 1. This would enable lunar surface activities and further reduce transportation costs within and out from cislunar space . The third phase would add

1147-442: The geographical location. Operations from a different country are indicated in the fourth column. A launch is counted as one also in cases where the payload consists of multiple satellites. 4 Qaem 100 The following table shows spaceports with documented achieved launches of humans to at least 100 km altitude, starting from a horizontal runway. All the flights were sub-orbital . Spaceports have been proposed for locations on

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1184-473: The launch pad in a nearby mountain village, destroying 80 homes. According to the official report, six people died and 56 were injured. The number of civilian deaths has been disputed, with estimates of the number of casualties as around a few hundred. On 11 January 2007, China conducted an anti-satellite missile test with an SC-19 ASAT weapon. A Chinese weather satellite — the FY-1C polar orbit satellite of

1221-399: The local view from 100 km (62 mi) altitude is also a factor to consider. The space tourism industry (see List of private spaceflight companies ) is being targeted by spaceports in numerous locations worldwide. e.g. Spaceport America , New Mexico. The establishment of spaceports for tourist trips raises legal issues, which are only beginning to be addressed. The following is

1258-622: The rocket had compatibility flaws with the American-made satellites that caused one launch failures and one partial failure in just 7 missions. The rocket was retired on 28 December 1995 in favor of the Long March 3B . The Long March 2E forms the basis of the Long March 2F , used to launch crewed Shenzhou missions. The booster rockets have also been used on the Long March 3B and Long March 3C . The Long March 2E made its maiden flight on 16 July 1990 and made 7 launches in total. All of

1295-535: The war, 70 complete V-2 rockets were brought to White Sands for test launches, with 47 of them reaching altitudes between 100 km and 213 km. The world's first spaceport for orbital and human launches, the Baikonur Cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan , started as a Soviet military rocket range in 1955. It achieved the first orbital flight ( Sputnik 1 ) in October 1957. The exact location of

1332-427: Was intended to pave the way for future commercial spaceflights. The spacecraft, SpaceShipOne , was launched by a carrier airplane taking off horizontally. At Cape Canaveral, SpaceX in 2015 made the first successful landing and recovery of a first stage used in a vertical satellite launch. Rockets can most easily reach satellite orbits if launched near the equator in an easterly direction, as this maximizes use of

1369-418: Was successfully launched from the facility, marking the beginning of China's lunar exploration program. China launched its first Long March-3C carrier rocket on April 25, 2008. This was the 105th mission of China's Long March series of rockets, and also the launch of the nation's first data relay satellite (数据中继卫星) Tianlian I (天链一号). A new launch pad for next-generation rockets (such as Long March 8 )

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