Long March 6A


The Long March 6A or Chang Zheng 6A as in pinyin, abbreviated LM 6A for export or CZ 6A within China, is a Chinese medium-lift launch vehicle in the Long March family, which was developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
The vehicle is a further development of the Long March 6, with two YF-100 engines on the first stage as opposed to one on the Long March 6, augmented by four solid rocket boosters. The Long March 6A is China's first rocket with solid rocket boosters, and only one so far to combine solid and liquid fuel technology in one rocket. There also exists a shorter boosterless variant of the 6A called the Long March 6C.
The maiden launch of the Long March 6A took place on March 29, 2022, successfully reaching orbit. It was also the first launch from the newly built launch complex 9A in Taiyuan.

Launch statistics

List of launches

Flight
number
Serial
number
Date Launch sitePayloadOrbitResult
1Y129 March 2022
09:50
Taiyuan, LA-9APujiang-2
Tiankun-2
SSO
2Y211 November 2022
22:52
Taiyuan, LA-9AYunhai-3 01SSO
3Y510 September 2023
04:30
Taiyuan, LA-9AYaogan 40-01A
Yaogan 40-01B
Yaogan 40-01C
LEO
4Y431 October 2023
22:50
Taiyuan, LA-9ATianhui 5A
Tianhui 5B
SSO
5Y326 March 2024
22:51
Taiyuan, LA-9AYunhai-3 02SSO
6Y74 July 2024
22:49
Taiyuan, LA-9ATianhui 5C
Tianhui 5D
SSO
7Y216 August 2024
06:42
Taiyuan, LA-9AQianfan × 18 Polar
8Y2015 October 2024
11:06
Taiyuan, LA-9AQianfan × 18 Polar
9Y225 December 2024
04:41
Taiyuan, LA-9AQianfan × 18 Polar
10Y623 January 2025
05:15
Taiyuan, LA-9AQianfan × 18 Polar
11Y1118 April 2025
22:51
Taiyuan, LA-9AShiyan 27-01
Shiyan 27-02
Shiyan 27-03
Shiyan 27-04
Shiyan 27-05
Shiyan 27-06
SSO
12Y911 May 2025
13:27
Taiyuan, LA-9AYaogan 40-02A
Yaogan 40-02B
Yaogan 40-02C
Polar
13Y85 June 2025
20:45
Taiyuan, LA-9AHuliangwang × 5 LEO
14Y1427 July 2025
10:03
Taiyuan, LA-9AHuliangwang × 5 LEO
15Y1017 August 2025
14:15
Taiyuan, LA-9AHuliangwang × 5 LEO
16Y126 September 2025
16:34
Taiyuan, LA-9AYaogan 40-03A
Yaogan 40-03B
Yaogan 40-03C
Polar
17Y1627 September 2025
12:40
Taiyuan, LA-9AHuliangwang × 5 LEO
18Y2417 October 2025
07:08
Taiyuan, LA-9AQianfan × 18 Polar
19Y158 December 2025
22:11
Taiyuan, LA-9AHuliangwang × 5 LEO
20Y2713 January 2026
14:16
Taiyuan, LA-9AYaogan 50-01LEO

Anomalies

Some upper stages fragmented before reentry

After the release of the Yunhai 3 following the Y2 launch of 11 November 2022, the Long March 6's upper stage broke up into more than 50 pieces of debris, which expanded to more than 781 pieces. The vehicle was supposed to re-enter in one piece and then burn up. Following the November 2022 breakup, similar events were observed after the 26 March 2024, 4 July 2024, and 6 August 2024 launches. The reason for the break ups are unclear, but may be related to upper stage passivation or insulation.