Launches / Kuaizhou 1A

Past launch Failed

Unknown Payload

Kuaizhou 1A, flown by ExPace

Kuaizhou 1A lifting off with the Unknown Payload mission
Image via The Space Devs.

This was ExPace's 1st launch of 2025, and its 29th in all.

Counting every operator, it was the 42nd orbital launch attempt anywhere in 2025, and the second from Launch Area 95A.

Launched
Saturday, March 1, 2025, 10:00 a.m. UTC Known only to the hour so far, so this will move.
Window
Saturday, March 1, 2025, 9:51 to 10:37 a.m. UTC
Launch site
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China
Rocket
Kuaizhou 1A
Operator
ExPace
Failure
Launch attempt not officially reported; unconfirmed reports of launch vehicle exploded on pad before liftoff.

The mission

Details TBD.

Type
Unknown

The rocket

Kuaizhou is a family of Chinese "quick-reaction" orbital launch vehicles. Flying since 2013, Kuaizhou 1 and 1A consist of three solid-fueled rocket stages, with a liquid-fueled fourth stage as part of the satellite system.

Height
19.4 m
Built by
ExPace
First flew
January 9, 2017
Lifts to low Earth orbit
300 kg
View 3 specifications Show less
Diameter
1.4 m
Mass at liftoff
30 t
Stages
4

31 flights, 28 of them successful.

Wikipedia →

The operator

ExPace

ExPace is a Chinese space rocket company based in Wuhan, Hubei, China. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of missileer China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), a Chinese state-owned company, and serves as its commercial rocket division. ExPace is focused on small satellite launchers to low Earth orbit.

Sector
Commercial
Based in
China
Founded
2016
Run by
Zhang Di, CEO

34 launches so far, 30 of them successful. The last 5 in a row went to plan.

Wikipedia →

The launch site

It went up from Launch Area 95A at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China.

See the pad on a map →

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