China sees world's most space launches in 2021

BEIJING, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- China has carried out 55 space launch missions in 2021, with this number ranking first in the world, said the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) Thursday.

Among the missions, 48 launches were conducted by the Long March series carrier rockets, all successful. The missions also included four launches by the Kuaizhou-1A carrier rocket, one launch by the CERES-1 carrier rocket and two launches by the SQX-1 commercial carrier rocket.

China's Long March-3B rocket carrying a communication technology experiment satellite blasted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province Thursday, marking a successful conclusion for the country's annual space launch missions.

As China's main high-orbit rocket, the CASC-developed launch vehicle and its modified versions mainly carry high-orbit communication satellites, commercial communication satellites, and the medium-high earth orbit satellites of Beidou-2 and Beidou-3 navigation satellites.

The year also witnessed the 400th launch mission of the Long March carrier rocket series, which marked a giant step forward in the strength of China's aerospace industry as well as its sci-tech strength, said the CASC.