# Long March 3

The Long March 3 (Chinese: 长征三号火箭), also known as the Changzheng 3, CZ-3 and LM-3, was a Chinese orbital carrier rocket design. They were all launched from Launch Area 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. It was a three-stage rocket, and was mostly used to place DFH-2-class communications satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbits. It was complemented and later replaced by the more powerful Long March 3A, which has an improved third stage.

## List of launches

| Flight number | Date (UTC) | Launch site | Payload | Orbit | Result |
| 1 | January 29, 1984 12:25 | LA-3, XSLC | STTW 1 | GTO (intended) | Partial Failure |
| 2 | April 8, 1984 11:20 | LA-3, XSLC | STTW 2 | GTO | Success |
| 3 | February 1, 1986 12:37 | LA-3, XSLC | DFH-2-1 | GTO | Success |
| 4 | March 7, 1988 12:41 | LA-3, XSLC | DFH-2A-1 (ChinaSat 1) | GTO | Success |
| 5 | December 22, 1988 12:40 | LA-3, XSLC | DFH-2A-2 (ChinaSat 2) | GTO | Success |
| 6 | February 4, 1990 12:28 | LA-3, XSLC | DFH-2A-3 (ChinaSat 3) | GTO | Success |
| 7 | April 7, 1990 13:30 | LA-3, XSLC | AsiaSat 1 | GTO | Success |
| 8 | December 28, 1991 12:00 | LA-3, XSLC | DFH-2A-4 (ChinaSat 4) | GTO (intended) | Failure |
| 9 | July 21, 1994 10:55 | LA-3, XSLC | APStar 1 | GTO | Success |
| 10 | July 3, 1996 10:47 | LA-3, XSLC | APStar 1A | GTO | Success |
| 11 | August 18, 1996 10:27 | LA-3, XSLC | ChinaSat 7 | GTO (intended) | Failure |
| 12 | June 10, 1997 12:01 | LA-3, XSLC | Fengyun 2A | GTO | Success |
| 13 | June 25, 2000 11:50 | LA-3, XSLC | Fengyun 2B | GTO | Success |

## Launch failures
### Dong Fang Hong 2 launch failure

On January 29, 1984, a LM-3 rocket failed during launch. The third stage failed 4 s after restart for GTO insertion of the satellite, due to incorrect mixture ratio in the engine gas generator, which caused high temperatures and burned out the turbine casing. However, many planned tests on the experimental communications spacecraft were still carried out in the resulting elliptical orbit.

### ChinaSat 4 launch failure

On December 28, 1991, a LM-3 rocket failed during launch. The third-stage engine suffered a loss of turbine speed and combustion pressure 58 s after re-igniting for the second burn for GTO insertion and shut down completely 135 s after re-ignition. Loss of pressure in the high-pressure helium supply used for engine control had reduced the propellant flow.

### ChinaSat 7 launch failure

On August 18, 1996 a LM-3 rocket failed during launch. The third-stage engine shut down roughly 40 s earlier than planned because of a fire in the LH2 injector of the gas generator. Insufficient purging had permitted oxygen to freeze in the gas generator during flight.

## Specifications of all LM-3 types

Specifications :
| Series | 3 | 3A | 3B | 3B/E | 3C | 3C/E |
| Model | Long March 3 | Long March 3A | Long March 3B | Long March 3B/E | Long March 3C | Long March 3C/E |
| Stages | 3 | 3 | 3 (plus 4 Strap-on boosters) | 3 (plus 4 Strap-on boosters) | 3 (plus 2 Strap-on boosters) | 3 (plus 2 Strap-on boosters) |
| Length (m) | 43.2 | 52.5 | 54.8 | 56.3 | 54.8 | 56.3 |
| Max. diameter (m) | 3.35 | 3.35 | 3.35 | 3.35 | 3.35 | 3.35 |
| Liftoff mass (t) | 204 | 241 | 426 | 459 | 345 | 378 |
| Liftoff thrust (kN) | 2,962 | 2,962 | 5,923 | 5,923 | 4,442 | 4,442 |
| Payload (LEO, kg) | 5,000 | 8,500 | 11,500 | 11,500 | 8,000 | 8,000 |

## Launch history for all LM-3 types

The following launch statistics are gathered from the individual Wikipedia pages of each CZ-3x variants as those pages are updated more frequently by various editors; the numbers are current as of 23 February, 2023.
Long March 3 (rocket family) :
| Derivatives | Status | First flight | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures |
| Long March 3 | Retired | 29 January 1984 | 13 | 10 | 2 | 1 |
| Long March 3A | Retired | 8 February 1994 | 27 | 27 | 0 | 0 |
| Long March 3B | Retired | 14 February 1996 | 12 | 10 | 1 | 1 |
| Long March 3B/E | Active | 13 May 2007 | 78 | 76 | 1 | 1 |
| Long March 3C | Retired | 25 April 2008 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| Long March 3C/E | Active | 23 October 2014 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 |