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| Attribute | Long March 8 (incl. 8A) 🇨🇳 China Trust: Operator-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-07-26Remove × | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | ExPace (CASIC subsidiary) | China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) / CASC | Roscosmos / Progress Rocket Space Centre |
| Country | 🇨🇳 China | 🇨🇳 China | 🇷🇺 Russia |
| Status | Active | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Small | Medium | Medium |
| Propellant | Solid (3 stages) + liquid-fueled 4th stage | RP-1 / LOX (stage 1); LH2/LOX (stage 2) | RP-1 / LOX |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| First flight | 2017 | 2020 | 2004 |
| Payload to LEO | 400 kgas of [1] | 8,100 kgas of [1]5,000 kg to 700 km SSO (base); the enlarged-second-stage 8A variant (first flew 2025-02-11) lifts 7,000 kg to the same SSO reference orbit. | 8,200 kgas of [1]Soyuz-2.1b with Fregat upper stage; 2.1a variant ~7,020 kg LEO ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | 3,250 kgas of [1]With Fregat-M upper stage ↑ Best |
| Height | 19.4 mas of [1] | 50.3 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 46.3 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 30 tas of [1]Transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) capable — road-mobile solid launcher. | 356 t (base); 371 t (8A)as of [1] ↑ Best | 312 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | ~85% (23 successes, 3 failures, 1 partial failure of 27)as of [1] ↑ Best | 100% (16/16 combined base + 8A)as of [1] | 97%as of [2]~160/165 mission successes since 2004 per aggregated launch logs |
| Total flights | 27as of [1] | 16 (base + 8A combined)as of [1] ↑ Best | ~165as of [2] |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | — |
| Summary | CASIC's road-mobile, quick-response small solid launcher, operated commercially by ExPace since 2017 — one of the higher-cadence Chinese small-lift vehicles. | A two-stage medium-lift launcher originally designed with a reusable combined-booster-recovery concept in mind, though currently operational vehicles fly expendable. Exclusively from Wenchang. | Russia's primary medium-lift workhorse, descended from the Soyuz family that has flown since 1966. Carries both crewed Soyuz spacecraft and Cygnus-class cargo. Fregat upper stage significantly expands mission flexibility. Production continues at Samara (now TsSKB-Progress). |
48 launch vehicles across 10 countries — active, retired, and in development — with primary-source citations from manufacturer user guides and agency press kits. Pure URL state: bookmark or share the link and the comparison reproduces exactly.