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Additional Media

CASC - Long March 2F/G - Shenzhou 18 - Crewed Launch Tiangong - SLS-1 - Jiuquan - April 24, 2024

Shenzhou 18 (Chinese: 神舟十八号; pinyin: Shénzhōu Shíbā-hào; lit. 'Divine Boat Number 18') is a planned Chinese spaceflight to the Tiangong space station. It is expected to launch on 25 April 2024, near...

Shenzhou 18

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Human Exploration

Low Earth Orbit Launch Area 91 (SLS-1 / 921) Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Seventh crewed flight to the Chinese space station.

Updates

Cosmic_Penguin • April 25, 2024, 2 p.m.

Launch success.


Cosmic_Penguin • April 25, 2024, 1 p.m.

Liftoff.


LL2 • April 25, 2024, 9:58 a.m.

Unofficial Re-stream by VideoFromSpace has started


Cosmic_Penguin • April 15, 2024, 9:20 a.m.

Added launch window per NOTAMs.


Cosmic_Penguin • March 15, 2024, 8:13 a.m.

NET April 25.


Long March 2F/G

Family:
Configuration: F/G

The Long March 2F is a Chinese orbital carrier rocket, part of the Long March 2 rocket family. Designed to launch the crewed Shenzhou spacecraft, the Long March 2F is a human-rated two-stage version of the Long March 2E rocket, which in turn was based on the Long March 2C launch vehicle. It is launched from complex SLS at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The Long March 2F/G version includes longer boosters for increased lift capability, among other improvements.

Specifications
  • Stages
    2
  • Length
    62.0 m
  • Diameter
    3.35 m
  • Fairing Diameter
  • Launch Mass
    464.0 T
  • Thrust
Family
  • Name
    Long March 2F/G
  • Family
  • Variant
    F/G
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Long March 2F/G
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
    8399.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Shenzhou 18


Active Human Rated Crew On-board: 3 Crew Capacity: 3
Destination: Tiangong Space Station
Serial Number: 18

Seventh crewed mission to the Chinese Space Station.

Shenzhou Details

Crew


Ye Guangfu

Commander - configurations.Country.None - ( CNSA )

Status: Active

Date of Birth: Sept. 1, 1980
Age: 46

Li Cong

Engineer - configurations.Country.None - ( CNSA )

Status: Active

Date of Birth: Oct. 1, 1989
Age: 36

Li Guangsu

Engineer - configurations.Country.None - ( CNSA )

Status: Active

Date of Birth: July 1, 1987
Age: 39

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation

(CASC)

Chairman & President: Lei Fanpei Founded: 1999 Successes: 599 Failures: 16 Pending: 9

Agency Type:

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is the main contractor for the Chinese space program. It is state-owned and has a number of subordinate entities which design, develop and manufacture a range of spacecraft, launch vehicles, strategic and tactical missile systems, and ground equipment. It was officially established in July 1999 as part of a Chinese government reform drive, having previously been one part of the former China Aerospace Corporation. Various incarnations of the program date back to 1956.

INFO WIKI
SpaceNews

China’s Shenzhou-18 crew arrive at Tiangong space station

China’s three Shenzhou-18 mission astronauts arrived at the Tiangong space station Thursday following launch from Jiuquan spaceport.

SpacePolicyOnline.com

New Chinese Space Station Crew Arrives at Tiangong-3 Space Station

China continued its new pattern of space station crew exchanges today with the launch of the three-man Shenzhou-18 crew. They docked with the Tiangong-3 space station 6.5 hours after launch […]

NASASpaceflight

Launch Roundup: SpaceX lands its 300th booster, NASA tests a solar sail, and China launches three more taikonauts

During the last full week of April, forthcoming launches include two Starlink missions planned on Monday and Friday, and another two more Falcon 9 flights lifting customer satellites. The first of these is the delayed WorldView Legion 1 & …

Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Launch Area 91 (SLS-1 / 921)


Falcon 9
In Flight
11 minutes ago
Starlink Group 15-27
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 27 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 2D
Success
15 hours, 8 minutes ago
PIESAT-2 13-16
Launch Complex 9 - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

4 X-band synthetic-aperture radar Earth observation satellites for the Chinese Earth observation satellite company PIESAT.


Electron
Success
22 hours, 36 minutes ago
Owl By The Dozen (StriX Launch 12)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synthetic aperture radar satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.


Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M
Success
2 days, 9 hours ago
Glonass-K1 No. 20 (?)
43/3 (43L) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Note: Satellite serial number and Cosmos designation not confirmed. Glonass-K are the third generation of satellite design for GLONASS satellite n…


Kuaizhou 11
Success
2 days, 23 hours ago
SpaceTY-51 & 52
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

2 Earth observation radar satellites built by the Chinese satellite manufacturer SpaceTY.


Falcon 9
Success
3 days ago
USSF-259
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

USSF-259 is a classified mission for the United States Space Force. It is possibly a batch of classified LEO satellites based on SpaceX’s Starshield …


Long March 12
Success
3 days, 1 hour ago
SatNet LEO Group 25
Commercial LC-2 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…


Soyuz 2.1b
Success
3 days, 12 hours ago
Progress MS-35 (96P)
31/6 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Progress resupply mission to the International Space Station.


Gravity-1
Success
4 days, 3 hours ago
SpaceSail Polar Group #16
Yellow Sea (launch location 5) - Haiyang Oriental Spaceport

9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with …


Zhuque-2E Block 2
Success
4 days, 19 hours ago
SpaceSail Polar Group #15
Launch Area 96A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

10 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with…