Long March 2
series of Chinese rockets
Long March 2 (长征二号, Chángzhēng èr hào, CZ-2, DoD: CSL-2) is a family of multistage hypergolic expendable launch systems developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT). The rockets use the abbreviations LM-2 family for export, and CZ-2 family within China, as "Chang Zheng" means "Long March" in Chinese pinyin. They are part of the larger Long March rocket family.
The human-rated Long March 2F variant launches from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, and has carried every crewed Chinese spaceflight via the Shenzhou spacecraft. It has also carried the Chinese reusable experimental spacecraft military spaceplane and a 2F/G derivative launched the Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2 prototype space stations of the Tiangong program.
History
Long March 2 was the original model in the Long March 2 rocket family, which was derived from China's first ICBM, the DF-5. The development work began in 1970. The first rocket was launched on November 5, 1974, but the launch failed. After the failed first launch of Long March 2, its design was slightly modified and designated as Long March 2A. Long March 2A was successfully launched in 1975. The production of the Long March 2A ended in 1979.
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This entry incorporates text from “Long March 2” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.