Long March family

Long March 8A

The Long March 8A is an orbital launch vehicle developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology based on the Long March 8. It has an increased capability of up to 7 tonnes to a 700 km altitude sun-synchronous orbit. It implements a larger 3.35 meters diameter liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen 2nd stage, coupled with 2 upgraded version of the YF-75D engines used on the Long March 5 (known as the YF-75H) with increased thrust to 10 tonnes each through measures such as increased turbopump speeds. The Long March 8A can also use a larger 5.2 meters diameter payload fairing.

Flights flown111 scheduled
Success rate100%11/11
Payload to LEO9,800kg
Maiden flight2025-02-11
Peak year20256 flights

Long March 8A is built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation of China. It first flew on 11 February 2025.

Flight record

12 records
100% success rate11 of 11 flown
2025peak 2025 · 6 flights2026
First flight2025-02-11
Latest flight2026-09-23
Failures0
Consecutive successes11
Fastest turnaround18d 15h

Payload

Per mission profile
Low Earth orbit9,800kg
Sun-synchronous orbit7,000kg
Geostationary transfer orbit3,500kg

Vehicle

A spec
Stages2
Length50.5m
Diameter3.35m
Launch mass371t
Liftoff thrust4,800kN
Maiden flight2025-02-11
ReusableNo

Pads used

2 pads

Orbits delivered

2 orbits
Low Earth Orbit10Polar Orbit1

Launch history

12 launches
DateMissionPadOrbitOutcome
2026-09-23Long March 8A | SatNet LEO Group 26Commercial LC-1Low Earth OrbitSuccess
2026-08-04Long March 8A | SatNet LEO Group 23Commercial LC-1Low Earth OrbitSuccess
2026-07-05Long March 8A | SpaceSail Polar Group #14Commercial LC-1Polar OrbitSuccess
2026-03-12Long March 8A | SatNet LEO Group 20Commercial LC-1Low Earth OrbitSuccess
2026-01-13Long March 8A | SatNet LEO Group 18Commercial LC-1Low Earth OrbitSuccess
2025-12-25Long March 8A | SatNet LEO Group 17Commercial LC-1Low Earth OrbitSuccess
2025-12-06Long March 8A | SatNet LEO Group 14Commercial LC-1Low Earth OrbitSuccess
2025-10-16Long March 8A | SatNet LEO Group 12Commercial LC-1Low Earth OrbitSuccess
2025-08-25Long March 8A | SatNet LEO Group 10Commercial LC-1Low Earth OrbitSuccess
2025-07-30Long March 8A | SatNet LEO Group 06Commercial LC-1Low Earth OrbitSuccess
2025-02-11Long March 8A | SatNet LEO Group 02 (Demo Flight)201Low Earth OrbitSuccess
2026-10-22Long March 8A | Unknown PayloadCommercial LC-1UnknownScheduled

Specifications from Launch Library 2 by The Space Devs, launch records from Space Index. Derived figures are computed here; see sources and method.

Further reading: Wikipedia