Image source: topwar.ru
China is actively implementing the space program, launching new satellites into orbit and commissioning new compartments of the orbital station. According to the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), China has launched a new Lijian-1 launch vehicle for the first time today.
China is becoming a leader in the space race, significantly ahead of Russia and the United States in the number of space launches and implemented programs. Today, the People's Republic of China conducted tests of a new national-designed Lijian-1 launch vehicle, which put six space satellites into orbit at once. The launch was carried out at 12:12 Beijing time (07:12 Moscow time) from the Jiuquan cosmodrome, located in Gansu Province in the northwestern part of China.
The ZK-1A launch vehicle, dubbed the Lijian-1, is a solid-fuel four-stage launch vehicle developed by Chinese specialists. It is designed to launch one or more satellites into sun-synchronous orbits or low Earth orbits within the framework of a single mission. Payload weight - up to 1500 kg.
Last November, the Chinese conducted a test of the Lijian-1, simulating the entire process of loading, transportation, docking and vertical launch of the rocket, but without a physical launch. The testing was conducted at a base in the coastal city of Yantai in Shandong Province in Eastern China, where a new facility is being built that will allow launching launch vehicles into space from an offshore platform.
The first launch of the new launch vehicle was planned for March of this year, but was later postponed, the reasons are not called. As part of the launch carried out today, six satellites have been put into orbit to test new space technologies.
