The Long March 2F ( ''Changzheng 2F''), also known as the CZ-2F, LM-2F and Shenjian (, "Divine Arrow"), is a Chinese

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...

carrier rocket A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistag ...

, part of the Long March 2 rocket family. Designed to launch crewed

Shenzhou spacecraft Shenzhou (, ; see ) is a Chinese spacecraft developed for the nation's crewed space program. Its design was based on Russia's Soyuz, but larger and modernized. Like Soyuz, Shenzhou is a single-use vehicle composed of three modules; a descent ...

, the Long March 2F is a

human-rated Human-rating certification, also known as man-rating or crew-rating, is the certification of a spacecraft or launch vehicle as capable of safely transporting humans. There is no one particular standard for human-rating a spacecraft or launch veh ...

two-stage version of the

Long March 2E The Long March 2E, also known as the Chang Zheng 2E, CZ-2E and LM-2E, was a Chinese orbital carrier rocket from the Long March 2 family. The Long March 2E was a three-stage carrier rocket that was designed to launch commercial communications sa ...

rocket, which in turn was based on the Long March 2C launch vehicle. It is launched from complex SLS at the

Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC; also known as Shuangchengzi Missile Test Center; Launch Complex B2; formally Northwest Comprehensive Missile Testing Facility (); Base 20; 63600 Unit) is a Chinese space vehicle launch facility ( spacep ...

. The Long March 2F made its maiden flight on 19 November 1999, with the Shenzhou 1 spacecraft. After the flight of Shenzhou 3, CPC General Secretary and President

Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as Chairman of the Central Mil ...

named the rocket "Shenjian", meaning "Divine Arrow". On 29 December 2002, a Long March 2F launched

Shenzhou 4 Shenzhou 4 () – launched on December 29, 2002 – was the fourth uncrewed launch of the Chinese Shenzhou spacecraft. Two dummy astronauts were used to test the life support systems (a live astronaut was not used until Shenzhou 5 on ...

for a final uncrewed test of the Shenzhou spacecraft for the upcoming flight of the first crewed mission. Until then, all missions were uncrewed. On 15 October 2003, a Long March 2F launched

Shenzhou 5 Shenzhou 5 (, see ) was the first human spaceflight mission of the Chinese space program, launched on 15 October 2003. The Shenzhou (spacecraft), Shenzhou spacecraft was launched on a Long March 2F launch vehicle. There had been four previous fl ...

, China's maiden crewed mission and achieved its first

human spaceflight Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be ...

. Since then, the rocket has launched twenty more missions into orbit with the latest being the

Shenzhou 20 Shenzhou 20 () is a Chinese spaceflight to the Tiangong space station launched on 24 April 2025. It carries three taikonauts on board a Shenzhou spacecraft. The mission is the 15th crewed Chinese spaceflight and the 20th flight overall of the ...

spacecraft.

Differences from the Long March 2E

Externally, the rocket is similar to the Long March 2E from which it was derived. Most of the changes involve the addition of redundant systems to improve safety, although there are some structural modifications that allow the rocket to support the heavier fairing required by the Shenzhou capsule. The rocket is also capable of lifting heavier payloads with the addition of extra boosters to the first stage. The rocket also has an "advanced fault monitoring and diagnosis system to help the astronauts escape in time of emergency" (in other words, a

launch escape system A launch escape system (LES) or launch abort system (LAS) is a crew-safety system connected to a space capsule. It is used in the event of a critical emergency to quickly separate the capsule from its launch vehicle in case of an emergency requiri ...

), and is the first Chinese made rocket to be assembled and rolled out to its launch site vertically.

Derivatives

file:CZ-2F rendering.jpg, Long March 2 F/G version file:CZ-2FT rendering.jpg, Long March 2 F/T version A derivative called Long March 2F/G, first launched in 2011, was made to replace the existing 2F variant. For uncrewed launches, Long March 2F/T was designed, which launched space laboratories such as Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2. It dispenses with the launch escape system and supports a larger fairing to accommodate the bulkier payloads. For launching payloads like reusable experimental spacecraft, the Long March 2F/G's fairing has bumps added to enclose parts of the payload (such as wingtips) without using a larger fairing.

Vibration issues

During the

flight,

Yang Liwei Yang Liwei (; born 21 June 1965) is a Chinese major general, former military pilot, and former taikonaut of the People's Liberation Army. In October 2003, Yang became the first person sent into space by the Chinese space program. This missi ...

became unwell due to heavy vibrations from the rocket. Although the problem was reduced somewhat by modifications to the rocket, vibrations were reported again in

Shenzhou 6 Shenzhou 6 () was the second human spaceflight of the Chinese space program, launched on October 12, 2005, on a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The Shenzhou spacecraft carried a crew of Fèi Jùnlóng (费俊龙) ...

necessitating further changes. According to

Jing Muchun __NOTOC__ Jing can refer to: * Jing (software), formerly Jing Project * Jing (name), a Chinese surname and given name * Jing River, in China * Jing (instrument) (), a large gong used in Korean traditional music * , a Chinese word for well and ...

, chief designer of the Long March 2F "We made changes to the pipelines of the rocket engine, adjusting its frequency. A new design for the pressure accumulator produced evident results. The vibration has now been reduced by more than 50%". During the launch preparations for the Shenzhou 14 mission chief designer Gao Xu said incremental improvements made to the rocket's design mean vibrations felt by the taikonauts would be similar to that felt in a car driven on a highway. The predecessor

had also been known for vibration. During two launches, excessive vibration caused the collapse of the payload fairing, destroying the Optus B2 and Apstar 2 satellites. After the payload fairing was redesigned, excessive vibration also damaged the AsiaSat 2 satellite during launch. After its successful launch of the Echostar 1 satellite on 28 December 1995 the rocket was officially retired from service. File:CZ-2F.svg, Long March 2F rocket schematics File:Shenzhou-12 roll out 02.png, The Long March 2F rocket with folded grid fins carrying Shenzhou 12 mission spacecraft, inscribed with "Divine Arrow" () in Chinese File:Launch of Shenzhou 13.jpg, Launch of Shenzhou 13 File:1分钟回顾神舟十五号载人飞船发射2.png, Shenzhou 15 before liftoff

Launch statistics

List of launches

References