Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC; also known as Shuangchengzi Missile Test Center; Launch Complex B2; formally Northwest Comprehensive Missile Testing Facility (西北综合导弹试验基地); Base 20; 63600 Unit) is a Chinese space vehicle launch facility (spaceport) located between the Ejin, Alxa, Inner Mongolia and Hangtian Town, Jinta County, Jiuquan, Gansu Province. It is part of the Dongfeng Aerospace City (Base 10). Because 95% of JSLC located in Jinta County, Jiuquan, the launch center is named after Jiuquan. The launch center straddles both sides of the Ruo Shui river.

History

It was founded in 1958, the first of China's four spaceports. As with most Chinese launch facilities, it is remote and generally closed to foreigners. The Satellite Launch Center is a part of Dongfeng Space City (东风航天城), also known as Base 10 (十号基地) or Dongfeng base (东风基地). The Dongfeng site also includes People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) test flight facilities, a space museum and a so-called martyr's cemetery (东风烈士陵园). JSLC is usually used to launch vehicles into lower and medium orbits with large orbital inclination angles, as well as testing medium to long-range missiles. Its facilities are state of the art and provide support to every phase of a satellite launch campaign. The site includes the Technical Center, the Launch Complex, the Launch Control Center, the Mission Command and Control Center and various other logistical support systems. The center covers 2800 km2 and may have housing for as many as 20,000 people. The facilities and launch support equipment were likely modelled on Soviet counterparts and the Soviet Union likely provided technical support to Jiuquan. Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center was expanded during the Third Front campaign to develop basic industry and national defense industry in China's rugged interior to prepare for potential invasion by the Soviet Union or the United States. The launch center has been the focus of many of China's ventures into space, including their first satellite Dong Fang Hong I in 1970, and their first crewed space mission Shenzhou 5 on 15 October 2003. As of 2021, all Chinese crewed space flights, meaning all flights in the Shenzhou program including crewed flights to the Tiangong space station, have launched from Jiuquan. In August 2016, China launched the first quantum communication satellite, the "Quantum Experiments at Space Scale", from the center. In August 2018, Chinese private rocket manufacturing startups i-Space and OneSpace launched sub-orbital rockets from the center. On 25 July 2019, the first Chinese private orbital launch took place from Jiuquan as I-Space launched their Hyperbola-1 rocket.

Launch pads

The launch site comprises two launch complexes, each containing several launch locations. All the launch statistics reported below are up to date as of December 2023.

North Launch Complex

The North Launch Complex consists in two different launch areas, both currently inactive.

South Launch Complex

The South Launch complex is currently active and consists in a main launch area used by CASC to handle the launches of several Long March vehicles and a variety of concrete pads for small rocket launches.

Launches

Previous launches

Upcoming launches

Image gallery