China's Long March 5 Heavy-lift Rocket Launch of Communications Satellite

China's Long March 5 Heavy-lift Rocket Launch of Communications Satellite

China's Long March 5 heavy-lift carrier rocket lifted off at 3:30 pm on June 11, 2026, at the coastal Wenchang Space Launch Site in south China's Hainan Province, delivering a new communication technology test satellite, the TJSW-25, into geostationary orbit.

TJSW-25 was built by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST). It is also known as the Communication Technology Experimental Satellite-25. Just like the many other satellites of its fleet, it is tasked with demonstrating multi-band, high-throughput communications technologies for radio, television, and data transmission.

TJSW-25 is the second of its line to launch this year, a few weeks after May’s TJSW-24 also lifted off from Wenchang. Both spacecraft are part of a significant expansion of the communications technology demonstration fleet, as nine TJSW spacecraft were deployed in 2025.

Speaking on improvements to the Long March 5’s pre-flight preparation work, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) shared that testing time on the launch pad has been shortened from six days to four, while manufacturer of the four boosters, the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, mentioned overall optimizations in handling and storing each of the stages. Those and further improvements will be needed to hit a goal of up to ten missions per year.

Additionally, the launch vehicle’s 18.5-meter-long fairing was in use for its fifth time to date, allowing larger satellites to be carried into space. The longer fairing has been used to secure the TJSW-23 satellite in December 2025, the TJSW-20 spacecraft in October 2025, and the TJSW-11 satellite in February 2024. It was first used for Yaogan-41 in December 2023.

Today’s launch was the 11th mission for the Long March 5, the 18th launch for the Long March 5 series, and the 650th launch of the Long March launch vehicle series. This was also the 39th launch from China in 2026.

Credit: CAST/CALT

Duration: 29 seconds
Date: June 11, 2026

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