Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center

Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC), located in the Gobi Desert in Inner Mongolia at the Ejin Banner area of Alxa League (sometimes referred to as being in Jiuquan, Gansu Province, though it straddles the Gansu-Inner Mongolia border), is China's oldest, largest, and most historically significant space launch facility — home to all of China's crewed Shenzhou spacecraft launches and a major hub for both government and commercial Chinese rocket operations.

Established in 1958 as China's first missile testing range under Project 596 (China's first ICBM development program), JSLC began satellite launch operations with China's first satellite, Dong Fang Hong 1 ('The East is Red'), launched April 24, 1970 on the Long March 1 rocket — a date now celebrated as China Space Day. The facility is located at approximately 41°N latitude in an arid desert basin chosen for its sparse population, flat terrain, clear skies, and favorable range safety conditions for eastward orbital insertion.

JSLC is China's primary crewed spaceflight launch facility: all Shenzhou crewed missions including Yang Liwei's historic first Chinese human spaceflight (October 2003, Shenzhou 5), the Tiangong space station crew rotation missions, and the upcoming crewed lunar program will launch from JSLC's Launch Area 4 (Shenzhou launch complex). The facility also supports Tianzhou cargo spacecraft launches supplying China's Tiangong CSS.

Beyond government missions, JSLC has become a hub for China's commercial launch industry. Private rocket companies including LandSpace (Zhuque-2 methane rocket), Galactic Energy, iSpace, and CAS Space operate or have operated from JSLC launch pads under China's commercial space liberalization policies, using the government facility's range safety infrastructure while operating their own vehicles. The facility's large footprint accommodates multiple active launch pads across different launch areas.