The rocket was launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Site, in China’s southern Hainan province. Photos from the scene show crowds gathered in tents at a distance, waiting to witness the launch.
The missile carried the Shiyan-9 satellite to test new technologies, such as space environment monitoring, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
CASC built the experimental satellite in just eight months, setting a record for medium to large remote sensing satellites, the government space contractor said.
The Long March 7A is a three-stage rocket with four boosters measuring 60.1 meters in length and 3.35 meters in diameter. It has the capacity to send seven tons of cargo to a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) – about 22,000 miles (35,405 kilometers) above the Earth’s surface.
The rocket is primarily designed to launch satellites in GTO, with the potential to be upgraded to lunar, Mars and asteroid exploration in the future, CASC said.
China’s first attempt to launch the Long March 7A, in March 2020, suffered a launch failure at the Wenchang Space Launch Site. At the time, Chinese officials said engineers would investigate the cause of the failure, without providing further details.
China expects to launch three to five Long March 7A missiles every year before 2025, according to CASC.
China has an ambitious space program backed by billions of dollars in government investment. In recent months, the country has launched both lunar and Mars missions.
In July 2020, China launched its first unmanned mission to Mars – the Tianwen-1 probe, which entered the red planet’s orbit in February this year. And in December 2020, China’s unmanned Chang’e mission returned lunar samples to Earth – making it just the third country to successfully collect rocks from the moon.
CNN’s Yong Xiong contributed to this report.