The rocket was launched from the Wenchang space launch site in southern China’s Hainan Province. Photos from the stage show crowds gathered with tents in the distance, waiting to witness the takeoff.
The rocket carried the Shiyan-9 satellite to test new technologies, such as space monitoring, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
CASC built the experimental satellite in just eight months, setting a record for medium to large-scale remote sensing satellites, the government-owned space contractor said.
Long March 7A is a three-stage rocket, with four boosters, with a length of 60.1 meters in length and a diameter of 3.35 meters. It has the capacity to send seven metric tons of payload into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) – about 35,000 kilometers above the Earth’s surface.
The rocket is primarily designed to launch satellites into the GTO, with the potential to be upgraded to the exploration of the Moon, Mars and asteroids in the future, according to CASC.
China’s first attempt to launch Long March 7A in March 2020 failed to launch on the Wenchang space launch site. At the time, Chinese officials said engineers would investigate the cause of the failure without providing further details.
China expects to launch three to five 7A long rockets each year before 2025, according to CASC.
China has an ambitious space program, backed by billions of dollars in government investment. In recent months, the country has launched both monthly and Mars missions.
In July 2020, China launched its first unmanned mission to Mars – the Tianwen-1 spacecraft, which entered the orbit of the red planet in February this year. And in December 2020, China’s unmanned Chang’e mission brought lunar samples back to Earth – making it only the third country to successfully collect rocks from the moon.
CNN’s Yong Xiong contributed to the report.