Modernization

China's Wenchang Space Launch Site Completes Its 50th Launch Mission

中国文昌航天发射场完成五十次发射任务

PLA Daily (解放军报) 30 July 2026

Summary

The Wenchang Space Launch Site completed its 50th launch mission on July 29 with a Long March 7A delivering the Tianlian-3 01 satellite to orbit, ten years after the site opened in 2016. The article documents the institutional normalization of what it calls 快速周转 (rapid turnaround) and 三工位并行 (three-pad parallel operations), framing these as solved engineering problems rather than aspirational goals. Upcoming missions listed — Chang'e-7 this year, crewed lunar landing, and a heavy-lift rocket maiden flight — confirm the site's centrality to China's near-term deep-space and lunar program, though no launch dates for those missions are given.

Translation

China's Wenchang Space Launch Site Completes Its 50th Launch Mission — High-Stability, High-Tempo Launches of New-Generation High-Thrust Carrier Rockets Become Normalized

Xinhua News Agency, Wenchang, Hainan, July 29 (Xu Binru, Cui Wanying) — On July 29, the Long March 7A carrier rocket successfully delivered the Tianlian-3 01 satellite into its designated orbit.

This marks the 50th launch mission successfully completed since the establishment of China's Wenchang Space Launch Site, demonstrating that high-stability, high-tempo launches of our country's new-generation high-thrust carrier rockets have been normalized.

The Wenchang Space Launch Site is the first modern new-type space launch site that is green, ecological, and environmentally friendly to be independently designed and constructed by our country. It currently has three launch pads capable of multi-azimuth, all-weather, and heavy-tonnage launches, and features the advantages of low latitude, wide launch azimuth range, high launch vehicle efficiency, few transportation restrictions, and good safety in the downrange drop zones.

In 2016, the Wenchang Space Launch Site was officially put into operation. On June 25 of the same year, the Long March 7 carrier rocket ignited and lifted off from this site, and the launch site's inaugural launch was a complete success. Over the past ten years, Tianwen-1 reached for the heavens, Chang'e-5 and Chang'e-6 made two journeys to the Moon, and the Tianhe, Wentian, and Mengtian modules along with ten Tianzhou cargo spacecraft set out from here… The annual launch volume of the Wenchang Space Launch Site has steadily increased, achieving multiple historic breakthroughs in China's space program.

Behind each successful mission lies the continuous improvement of the Wenchang Space Launch Site's testing and launch capabilities — the technical team has continuously optimized testing and launch procedures, shortened rocket testing cycles, and achieved "rapid turnaround" (快速周转) from rocket arrival to launch; construction has been accelerated and expanded to form a "three-pad parallel operations" (三工位并行) configuration; and smart applications represented by remote centralized control, intelligent equipment operation and maintenance, and intelligent management and control have been realized.

In response to the natural environmental characteristics of Hainan — high temperature, high humidity, high salt fog, and frequent typhoons — in recent years, the Wenchang space workforce has systematically solved technical challenges including corrosion protection of launch tower equipment, zero-window launches, high-flow cryogenic propellant loading, and the coordinated parallel management of multiple launch missions, endowing the launch site with a high-stability, normalized, high-tempo launch capability for new-generation high-thrust carrier rockets.

According to plan, the Wenchang Space Launch Site will carry out the Chang'e-7 mission this year and will in the future undertake major missions including crewed lunar landing and the maiden flight of a heavy-lift rocket, providing strong support for crewed lunar landing, deep-space exploration, planetary exploration, space station application and development, and low-Earth-orbit internet constellation networking.

Original Chinese

中国文昌航天发射场完成五十次发射任务新一代大推力运载火箭高稳定高密度发射常态化新华社海南文昌7月29日电（徐斌如、崔婉莹）7月29日，长征七号改运载火箭成功将天链三号01卫星送入预定轨道。这是中国文昌航天发射场建成后圆满完成的第50次发射任务，表明我国新一代大推力运载火箭的高稳定、高密度发射实现常态化。文昌航天发射场是我国自主设计建设的第一座绿色生态环保的现代化新型航天发射场，目前拥有3个多射向、全天候、大吨位发射工位，具有纬度低、射向范围宽、运载效能高、运输限制少、落区安全性好等特点。 2016年，文昌航天发射场正式投入使用。同年6月25日，长征七号运载火箭在此点火起飞，发射场首次发射获得圆满成功。10年来，天问一号问鼎苍穹，嫦娥五号、嫦娥六号两度奔月，天和、问天、梦天舱和十艘天舟货运飞船从这里启程……文昌航天发射场年发射量稳步提升，实现了中国航天的多次历史性突破。一次次任务圆满成功的背后，是文昌航天发射场测试发射能力的不断提升——技术团队不断优化测试发射流程，缩短火箭测试周期，实现火箭进场到发射的“快速周转”；加紧拓展建设，形成“三工位并行”格局；实现以远程集中操控、装备智能运维、智能管控等为代表的智慧应用。针对海南高温高湿高盐雾、台风多发等自然环境特点，近年来，文昌航天人逐项破解塔架设备防腐、零窗口发射、大流量低温推进剂加注、多型号发射任务统筹并行等技术难点，使发射场具备了高稳定、常态化的新一代大推力运载火箭高密度发射能力。根据计划，文昌航天发射场今年将执行嫦娥七号任务，未来还将承担载人登月、重型火箭首飞等重大任务，为载人登月、深空探测、行星探测、空间站应用与发展、低轨互联网星座组网等提供强有力支撑。