China's Long March-6C Rocket Launches Thai STEM Education Satellite + 6 More
China on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, successfully launched the Long March‑6C Y1 carrier rocket, placing seven satellites on a rideshare mission into their planned orbits to cover key areas, including remote sensing, technology validation and science education. The rocket lifted off at 11:21am (Beijing Time) Launch Complex 9A at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi province.
For Thailand’s Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency, China's Galaxy Space made the GISTDA CubeSat-1, also dubbed Lingzhi-09 Thailand CubeSat, guided by their international client to provide students with a way to learn about satellite design and development. In orbit, it will be tasked with collecting remote sensing data to support the agricultural sector and ecological monitoring.
Galaxy Space’s sale of the satellite to Thailand marked the first time a commercial satellite maker has done so in China. Equipment to communicate with GISTDA CubeSat-1 was stated to have been provided to the Thai side along with technical know-how for its continued operation as well.
In flying today, the launch vehicle returned following a twenty-seven and a half-month gap since its debut flight, taking place back in May 2024. The Long March 6C is not designed to fly often, instead serving as an affordable solution for multi-satellite rideshare to sun-synchronous orbit, said to be cheaper than Rocket Lab’s Electron, by utilizing hardware from the Long March 6A. The first-stage is almost entirely the same, while a custom inter-stage and 2.9-meter diameter second-stage are produced, at a low rate, to increase performance.
This mission from Taiyuan was China’s seventh of the year to launch a foreign-owned satellite. January saw Algerian remote sensing satellites depart Jiuquan twice, followed by Pakistani Earth observation spacecraft in February and April, then a sea launch carrying satellites for Indonesia and Uzbekistan earlier this month, and just over a week ago the United Arab Emirates had a spacecraft launched.
Today’s launch was the second for the Long March 6C, the 28th mission of the Long March 6A series, the 274th Long March vehicle from the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, and the 665th launch of the Long March launch vehicle series. This was also the 60th launch from China in 2026.
Text Credit: CCTV, Jack C.
Release Date: Aug. 25, 2026
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