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| Attribute | Long March 8 (incl. 8A) 🇨🇳 China Trust: Operator-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-07-26Remove × | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | LandSpace | China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) / CASC | Space One |
| Country | 🇨🇳 China | 🇨🇳 China | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Status | Active | Active | In Development |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Medium | Small |
| Propellant | Methalox (LOX / liquid methane) | RP-1 / LOX (stage 1); LH2/LOX (stage 2) | Solid |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| First flight | 2024 | 2020 | 2024 |
| Payload to LEO | 6,000 kgas of [1]4,000 kg to 500 km SSO. Enhanced variant of the base Zhuque-2 with a common-bulkhead tank, TQ-15 thrust-vectoring engine on stage 2, and a niobium-alloy nozzle extension. A further-improved Block 2 first flew 2026-05-14 with subcooled propellant loading and a 3-ignition second stage. | 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. ↑ Best | — |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | — | 50.3 mas of [1] ↑ Best | — |
| Liftoff mass | — | 356 t (base); 371 t (8A)as of [1] ↑ Best | — |
| Success rate | 100% since 2024-11-27 debutas of [1] ↑ Best | 100% (16/16 combined base + 8A)as of [1] | 0/3 — three consecutive failuresas of [1]2024-03-13: disintegrated shortly after liftoff. 2024-12-18: began tumbling during 1st-stage burn, flight terminated. 2026-03-04: flight termination activated ~70 seconds after liftoff. All three launches flew from Spaceport Kii, Wakayama — Japan's first private-sector spaceport. Program grounded as of this research; precise payload/height/mass specs not confirmed from a primary source. |
| Total flights | 2+ (2E variant)as of [1] | 16 (base + 8A combined)as of [1] ↑ Best | 3as of [1] |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | — |
| Summary | LandSpace's enhanced methalox launcher, the higher-performance successor to the original Zhuque-2 (the first methalox rocket ever to reach orbit, in 2023) — see slug 'zhuque-2' for the original vehicle already in our database. | 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. | A Japanese commercial solid-fuel small launcher that has failed on all three flight attempts through March 2026, putting its commercial viability in serious question. |
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.