Monday, August 17, 2026
Long March 12 lofts 24th Guowang internet satellite group
A Long March 12 rocket lifted off at 12:10 Beijing time on August 16 from Launch Pad 2 at the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site, placing nine low-Earth-orbit internet satellites into their preset orbits. The batch is the 24th group for Guowang, China's state-backed broadband megaconstellation, and brings the number of Guowang spacecraft in orbit to roughly 195. The launch is the first Chinese orbital mission from Wenchang since a Long March 7A broke apart shortly after liftoff there on August 10.
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