JIUQUAN (Gansu Province), March 26 (Xinhuanet) -- The successful
launch of China's third unmanned spaceship Monday at the Jiuquan Satellite
Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province has once again proved
the sound performance of China's "Long March" carrier rocket.
The "Long March" has had 24 consecutive successful launches since
1996, making the carrier rocket one of the best-performing
satellite-launching rockets in the world, Chinese experts say.
"Long March" was first launched on April 24, 1970, when it managed
to send a China-made satellite into space. Since then, thecarrier rocket
has had 66 launches, which included 60 successful ones, or 91 percent of
the total.
Statistics show that the American Delta booster rocket succeeded in
94 percent of its launches and the European Ariane carrier rocket hit 93
percent.
The six failed launches of "Long March" occurred during the first
42 launches. The latest 24 successful launches since 1996 indicate that
the quality of the rocket has improved significantlyand "Long March" can
be taken as one of the world's most reliable and safest satellite carrier
rockets. Enditem
