CZ-1 at JSLC
A CZ-1 rocket carrying China's first manmade satellite DFH-1 on the launch pad in the Launch Area 2
DF-5 ICBM Test
A number of DF-5 ICBM flight test were carried out from Jiuquan since 1971
Launch Area 2
The mobile service tower lifting the second-stage of a CZ-2C launch vehicle on the launch pad in the Launch Area 2
South Launch Site
The new south launch site was constructed in the 1990s for the Chinese human spaceflight programme
Mission Command & Control Centre
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre
Key Information
Official Name: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre
Military Name: 20th Test & Training Base (or Base 20)
Western Code Name: Shuang Cheng Tzu Missile and Space Test Centre
Call Sign: Dongfeng
Status: In use
Launch Pads:(Total) 4; (Operational) 2
Summary
The Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre (JSLC) is the oldest space launch facility of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Originally built as a ballistic missile test facility in the late 1950s, the centre has evolved into China’s largest spaceport and the only launch site for human spaceflight missions. The launch centre prepares the ShenZhou spacecraft and ChangZheng launch vehicle (LV) for each flight mission, carries out the launch procedure, and tracks the spacecraft during the initial stage of its flight. Additionally, the centre could also launch Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites using a second launch pad built in 2003.
The JSLC is part of a larger military complex originally built in the late 1950s for missile testing. The facility was originally known as “Northwest Missile Test Base”, and later “20th Test & Training Base” (or Base 20). Western intelligence often refers to the complex as “Shuang Cheng Tzu Missile Centre”. The complex included a surface-to-surface missile test range, a surface-to-air missile test range, an air-to-air missile test range, and a number of technical and logistic support areas. The vast facility comprised 41 separate areas dispersed in a region of 13,000 square kilometres and over 2,000 buildings, including missile launch pads, technical support areas, missile assembly plants, rocket propellant storage facilities, barracks, residential areas, post offices, schools, airport, railways, roads, communications stations, power stations, and water supply facilities.
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In the mid-1960s, a new launch area (LA2, or North Launch Site) was built in the Base 20 to support China’s long-range ballistic missile testing as well as space programme. The launch site consists of two missile/space launch pads, a technical support area, and telemetry and tracking systems. At the same time, the SAM and AAM test facilities in the centre were separated from the base and continued their functions under the management of the PLA Air Force. The rest of the Base 20 became a dedicated surface-to-surface ballistic missile and space test centre.
Throughout the 1970s, a number of high-profile missions, including China’s first manmade satellite DFH-1 and several FSW recoverable satellites, as well as DF-5 (CSS-4) ICBM flight tests, were carried out from the Base 20. Missile test activities in Base 20 completely stopped after 1980, and the facility became the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre dedicated for China’s space programme. The centre continues to be managed and operated by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) today, though the majority of the staffs working in the centre are civilians.
In military communications, the code-name for Base 20 is “Dongfeng”. This call sign is still being used today during spaceflight missions. In 1992, the then Chinese president Jiang Zemin named the centre’s central headquarters base District 10 “Dongfeng Space City”.
Location
JSLC is located at approximately 40°57'28''N, 100°17'30''E, in Ejin-Banner, a county in Alashan League of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The area used to be part of the Jiuquan prefecture of Gansu Province at the time the centre was built, but was later reallocated to Inner Mongolia, though the name of the centre remained unchanged. Shang Cheng Tzu was said to be the original name of the location at which the centre was built, hence the name given by Western intelligence. However, this cannot be confirmed.
The launch centre is some 210km northeast to Jiuquan City (910,000 population) of Gansu Province. The region has a typical inland climate, which is mainly dry and sunny, with annual average temperature of 8.7 °C. There are around 260~300 days each year suitable for space launch activities, though the majority of launches there were carried out in Autumn and Winter seasons between September and December.
The centre is a large instrumented area dispersed along a 50km stretch of the Ruoshui River (also known as Etsin River), comprising three launch areas (with a total of 4 launch pads for space missions), a manned spacecraft backup landing site, a large main support and administrative base (District 10, or “Dongfeng Space City”) with residential areas housing over 20,000 people, radar and optical space tracking stations, and other support areas. The core areas of the centre cover a massive region of 2,800 square kilometres, with part of the facilities extending into the neighbouring Gansu Province and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Different areas within the centre are inter-connected by roads. The launch centre has dedicated railway line and highway linking to the Lanzhou-Xinjiang railway and Lanzhou-Xinjiang highway. Launch vehicles are transported to the centre by railway and then assembled in the centre before launch. The Dingxin Airbase is located 75km southwest to the launch centre.
4 January 1955: The Chinese Communist Party decided that China should develop its own nuclear weapons and missiles.
1957: The Chinese leadership decided to built the country’s first missile test range in the northwest Gobi Desert.
21 March 1958: The PLA 20th Army Corps was withdrawn from North Korea secretly. On 11 April, these troops were redeployed to the Gobi Desert to build the missile test base. Together with civilian workers, engineers, and technicians recruited from across the country, around 100,000 people took part in the construction project. The Soviet Union initially provided assistance to the project, including the selection of the facility’s location.
20 October 1958: Construction of the base began. The facility was officially designated Northwest Missile Test Base. Its military unit designator was 20th Test & Training Base (or Base 20).
Summer 1960: The 3,000km railway linking Beijing and the missile test base was completed. A one-way trip between the two locations took about 4~5 days by train.
August 1960: Moscow decided to suspend its military assistance to the PRC and withdrew all of its advisers working in China. This decision, resulted by the worsening relations between the two communist countries, was a major blow for the Chinese military industry. Nevertheless, the Chinese continued the construction project independently and the missile base was completed in September 1960.
5 November 1960: A Chinese-assembled Soviet R-2 ballistic missile (DF-1) was successfully launched from the Launch Area 3 (LA3) in Base 20, followed by a further two successful launches in December.
21 March 1962: The first flight test of the Chinese indigenous DF-2 (CSS-1) short-range ballistic missile was carried out in LA3. The missile lost control and impact the earth after only 69 seconds of flight.
29 June 1964: A modified DF-2 ballistic missile was successfully launched from LA3. The test was a complete success, marking the birth of China’s first indigenously-developed ballistic missile. This was followed by another ten successful flight tests in the next few months.
Mid-1960s: Construction of a new missile launch area (LA2) began to support the test of new-generation medium- to long-range ballistic missiles and future space launch missions.
November 1965: A number of flight tests of the improved DF-2A with extended range were carried out from Base 20, all of which were successful.
27 October 1966: A DF-2A missile carrying a single 12kT atomic warhead was launched from the Base 20 at 09:00 local time (01:00 GMT). At 09:09:14 the missile reached the Lop Nor nuclear test site in Xinjiang and successfully detonated at 569 metres above the ground surface. The successful test of the first missile delivered nuclear warhead marked the Chinese nuclear weapon programme had reached operational weapon deployment phase.
26 December 1966: The first flight test of the DF-3 (CSS-2) intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) was carried out successfully from the newly-built LA2.
November 1969: The first flight test of the CZ-1 SLV from LA2 failed. The second-stage of the vehicle failed to ignite after jettison of the first-stage, and The rocket crashed into the earth within view of the launch site after 69 seconds of flight.
Summer 1970: The north launch site was completed. The launch site consists of a new launch area (Launch Area 2) with two launch pads (No.138 and No.5020), a rocket preparation area, and telemetry and tracking systems. At the same time, the SAM and AAM test facilities in the centre were separated from the base and continued their functions under the management of the PLA Air Force. The rest of the Base 20 became a dedicated surface-to-surface ballistic missile and space test centre.
January 1970: The second flight test of the DF-4 launched from LA2 succeeded.
24 April 1970: A ChangZheng 1 launch vehicle derived from the DF-4 IRBM was successfully launched from LA, sending China’s first manmade satellite into the space, making China the fifth nation after the USSR, USA, France and Japan to achieve an indigenous space launch capability.
10 September 1970: The first flight test of the DF-5 (CSS-4) ICBM from LA2 was only partially successful. Because of the design flaw in the software of the onboard computer, the second-stage of the missile shut down earlier than scheduled, resulting the missile missing its target spot by 565 km. The second missile was launched in November 1972, but two of the four rocket motor failed to ignite, causing an emergent shut down. The same missile was launched again in April 1973 but it exploded in the midair.
3 March 1971: A CZ-1 LV launched from LA2 successfully sent China’s second satellite ShiJian 1 into the orbit.
5 November 1974: The first CZ-2 LV based on the DF-5 ICBM design was launched from LA2, carrying a FSW recoverable satellite. The launcher lost control shortly after the launch and was ordered self-destruction, destroying the satellite onboard.
26 January 1975: A modified CZ-2C LV launched from LA2 successfully sent China’s first recoverable satellite into the space. The satellite was recovered 2 days later.
18 May 1980: At 10:00:23 local time (02:00:23 GMT), a DF-5 (codename: 580A) was launched from Launch Pad No.138 in LA2. After flying for 29 minutes and 57 seconds over a distance of 9,070km, the missile's re-entry vehicle hit its targeted landing spot ( 7° 42' 23'' S, 172° 15' 36'' E) in the South Pacific, where it was recovered by a PLA naval task force.
21 May 1980: A second missile (codename: 580B) was launched from the Launch Pad No.5020 in LA2 at 11:19:32 local time (03:19:32 GMT). The second stage of the missile was shut down 6.4 seconds early, resulting the missile re-entry vehicle missing its targeted landing spot by 1,400km.
1994: As part of the China’s human spaceflight programme Project 921, a new launch site began construction in JSLC, some 38km southwest to the existing North Launch Site (LA2).
20 October 1996: The No.3 satellite of the FSW-2 series was successfully launched from JSLC by a CZ-2D LV. This was the last launch from the North Launch Site (LA2). There was no space launch activity from JSLC for the next three years, while the contraction of the South Launch Site was underway.
20 November 1999: An unmanned spacecraft ShenZhou 1 was successfully launched from the newly-built South Launch Site in JSLC by a CZ-2F LV. The spacecraft was successfully recovered 21 hours later after it orbited the Earth for 14 times.
15 October 2003: The ShenZhou 5 spacecraft carrying China’s first astronaut was successfully launched from the South Launch Site in JSLC, making China the third nation in the world after the USSR and USA to be able to send a human into space independently.
3 November 2003: The second launch pad for unmanned mission in the South Launch Site became operational, with a FSW recoverable satellite successfully launched by a CZ-2D LV from the launch pad.
