Jiuquan Credit - © Mark Wade

China's first launch center, also known as Shuang Cheng Tzu. Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre, situated at 100 degrees East, 41 degrees North, is located in the Jiuquan Region, Gansu province, north-western China. It was China's first ballistic missile and satellite launch centre. The Jiuquan Airport was 75 km south of the site. A dedicated railway at Jiuquan went directly to the launch site. Jiuquan’s facilities provided support for every phase of a satellite launch campaign. It included the Technical Centre, the Launch Complex, the Launch Control Centre, the Mission Command and Control Centre, propellant fuelling system, tracking systems, communications systems, gas supply systems, weather forecast systems, and logistic support systems. Jiuquan was originally used to launch scientific and recoverable satellites into medium or low earth orbits at high inclinations.

In 1999 the new South Center (LA4) became operational for heavy CZ-2E/CZ-2F launches. This consisted of two areas, the Technical Center and the Launch Center. The Launch Center was located at 100 deg 17.4' E, 40 deg 57.4' N at an elevation of 1073 m. The 75 m high umbilical tower was equipped with an explosion-proof elevator. The mobile launch pad weighed 75 metric tons with dimensions of 24.4 m x 21.7 m x 8.4 m and had a top speed of 28 m per minute. The Technical Center was 1.5 km away from the Launch Center. This included the VAB Vertical Processing Building with two 26.8 x 28 x 81.6 m processing halls. All important buildings, including the vertical processing building and an area of the umbilical tower, were air-conditioned to cleanness class 100,000. The VAB, code name 920-520, was built by the 8th Division of CSCEC, and was the world's tallest single-floor concrete building. It also had the world's tallest (86.1m above the ground) and heaviest (13,000 metric tons) concrete roof.

Jiuquan was known to have been used for at least 73 launches from 1960 to 2007.

• LA2A - Latitude: 41.3088 deg. Longitude: 100.3165 deg. Used by: CZ-1, DF-3, DF-4. First Launch: 1966-12-26. Last Launch: 1971-03-03. Number Launches: 5.

• LA2B - Latitude: 41.3061 deg. Longitude: 100.3132 deg. Used by: CZ. First Launch: 1971-09-10. Last Launch: 1996-10-20. Number Launches: 38.

• LA3 - Latitude: 41.0152 deg. Longitude: 100.7800 deg. Used by: DF-1, DF-2, R-2. First Launch: 1960-09-01. Last Launch: 1966-10-27. Number Launches: 10.

• LA3B - Latitude: 41.1593 deg. Longitude: 100.7803 deg.

• SLS - Latitude: 40.9580 deg. Longitude: 100.2915 deg. Used by: CZ. First Launch: 1999-11-19. Last Launch: 2005-10-12. Number Launches: 8. New launch complex for the CZ-2F manned spacecraft launcher. Vehicle processed at nearby Vertical Assembly Facility.

• SLS-2 - Latitude: 40.9607 deg. Longitude: 100.2983 deg. Used by: CZ. First Launch: 2003-11-02. Last Launch: 2005-07-05. Number Launches: 2. A second pad was built at the new launch complex for the CZ-2F manned spacecraft launcher, but used for smaller CZ-2D launch vehicles. Vehicles were processed at nearby Vertical Assembly Facility.

June 1956 - Launch Vehicle: DF-1, R-2. Beginning of construction at Jiuquan missile test site The 20th Corps of the People's Liberation Army begins construction of launch and tracking facilities at Jiuquan. Wells are dug, willow and poplar trees are planted, roads and housing are constructed.

1965 - Launch Vehicle: T-7. DFH test Technology test Agency: PRCAS. Apogee: 83 km (51 mi).

1968 August 8 - Launch Vehicle: T-7. GF-01A satellite test Agency: CAST. Apogee: 311 km (193 mi).

1968 August 20 - Launch Vehicle: T-7. GF-01A satellite test Agency: CAST. Apogee: 311 km (193 mi).

1969 - Launch Vehicle: T-7. DFH test Technology test Agency: CAST. Apogee: 81 km (50 mi).

1969 June 1 - Launch Vehicle: T-7. FSW satellite technology test Agency: CAST. Apogee: 100 km (60 mi).

1969 July 1 - Launch Vehicle: T-7. FSW satellite technology test Agency: CAST. Apogee: 100 km (60 mi).

1976 June 1 - Launch Vehicle: DF-4. Date uncertain. First test of DF-4.

2005 August 2 - 07:30 GMT - Launch Vehicle: CZ. LV Model: CZ-2C . Chang Zheng 2C CZ2C-27 (86) FSW-3 No. 4 Mass: 3,000 kg (6,600 lb). Spacecraft: FSW. Agency: CAST. Perigee: 153 km (95 mi). Apogee: 259 km (160 mi). Inclination: 63.00 deg. Period: 88.60 min. Military reconnaisance satellite, which maneuvered to raise its apogee on Aug 5 and 7 to a 166 x 552 km x 63.0 orbit; and again to the same altitude on Aug 19 after the apogee decayed to 535 km. Return capsule with film aboard recovered on 29 August.

2005 August 29 - 08:45 GMT - Launch Vehicle: CZ. LV Model: CZ-2D . Chang Zheng 2D CZ2D-7 (87) FSW-3 No. 5 Mass: 3,000 kg (6,600 lb). Spacecraft: FSW. Agency: CAST. Perigee: 178 km (110 mi). Apogee: 224 km (139 mi). Inclination: 63.00 deg. Period: 88.50 min. Decayed 17 October 2005.

2006 September 9 - 07:00 GMT - Launch Vehicle: CZ. LV Model: CZ-2C . Chang Zheng 2C CZ2C-28 (90) SJ-8 Mass: 3,000 kg (6,600 lb). Spacecraft: FSW. Agency: CASC. Perigee: 173 km (107 mi). Apogee: 336 km (208 mi). Inclination: 63.00 deg. Period: 89.60 min. Long delayed Seed Satellite, an experiment in which a large payload of seeds were exposed to te space environment for two weeks. The modified FSW optical reconnaisance satellite capsule was recovered in Sichuan at 02:43 GMT on September 24.