📊 Analysis
Statistics & insights on rockets and organizations — technology, history, numbers.
Long March 3B
ActiveChina Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
The Long March 3B is a Chinese orbital carrier rocket. Introduced in 1996, it is launched from Launch Area 2 and 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan. A three-stage rocket with four strap-on liquid rocket boosters, it is currently the most powerful member of the Long March rocket family and the heaviest of the Long March 3 rocket family, and is mainly used to place communications satellites into geosynchronous orbits.
Key figures
Total launches
24
Successes
21
Failures
3
Success rate
87.5 %
Success streak
3
Maiden flight
Feb 14, 1996
Launch cost
$70 Mio.
Reusable
No
Shortest launch interval ⓘ
25d 23h
Planned launches
0
Long March, Long March 3 family total
176 launches · 168 successes · 8 failures (8 variants)
🧐 Data check
Automatic plausibility checks — anomalies are surfaced transparently here:
- ℹ️The figures above apply only to the “Long March 3B” variant. The Launch Library counts each variant separately — the Long March, Long March 3 family totals 176 launches across 8 variants.
Technology
Length
54.8 m
Diameter
3.35 m
Launch mass
426 t
Liftoff thrust
5,923 kN
Stages
3
LEO (low Earth orbit)
11,500 kg
GTO (geo transfer)
5,100 kg
GEO (geostationary)
2,000 kg
Launches per year
of which in our database: 24
Successes Failures Other/planned
History & events
Sources
- Launch Library 2 (The Space Devs)
- Wikipedia