China-developed Long March 2 and 3 Carrier Rockets Enter International Market on Oct 26, 1985

China-developed Long March 2 and 3 carrier rockets start to accept domestic and international satellite launches on Oct 26, 1985. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

China-developed Long March 2 and 3 carrier rockets enter international market on Oct 26, 1985

China-developed Long March 2 and 3 carrier rockets entered the international market and started to accept satellite launching contracts from China and foreign countries on Oct 26, 1985.

Enterprises including China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Limited contributed to the development of the Long March 2 rocket.

Long March 2 is a basic type of China's carrier rocket and is mainly used for the launch of all kinds of low-Earth orbit satellites and other spacecraft that operate ataltitudes lower than 500 kilometers.

Long March 3 is a third-stage carrier rocket developed on the basis of Long March 2C, adding oxyhydrogen in the third stage.

Light multipurpose aircraft Xiaoying 500 succeeds on its maiden flight on Oct 26, 2003

The Xiaoying 500, a light multipurpose aircraft jointly developed by Aviation Industry Corporation of China, Ltd. and Civil Aviation Flight University of China, succeeded on its maiden flight in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province on Oct 26, 2003.

The test pilots on the aircraft were Zhao Peng and Kong Xiang.

The Xiaoying 500 was the first of its kind with four to five seats in China. It has proprietary intellectual property rights and was first manufactured domestically to Chinese civil flight airworthiness standards.

(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)