{"id":63100,"date":"2026-07-22T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/?guid=ddb6b8a4de75fbb45ecc68f1d294f7c4"},"modified":"2026-07-22T21:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T21:00:00","slug":"chinas-record-breaking-gravity-1-rocket-launches-9-satellites-from-a-ship-at-sea-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/2026\/07\/22\/chinas-record-breaking-gravity-1-rocket-launches-9-satellites-from-a-ship-at-sea-video\/","title":{"rendered":"China&#8217;s record-breaking Gravity-1 rocket launches 9 satellites from a ship at sea (video)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n                            \n                            <article>\n                                <iframe src=\"https:\/\/content.jwplatform.com\/players\/rNp7TRRv.html\" id=\"rNp7TRRv\" title=\"Gravity-1 rocket blasts off from East China Sea with 9 satellites\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"auto\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><p>The world's most powerful solid-fuel rocket just aced its third-ever mission.<\/p><p>Gravity-1, a distinctively squat and stubby <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/29295-rocket-history.html\"><u>rocket<\/u><\/a>, launched Tuesday night (July 21) from the deck of a ship stationed off the coast of Shanghai.<\/p><p>Liftoff occurred at 10:54 p.m. EDT (0254 GMT and 10:54 a.m. Beijing time on July 22), according to the state-run Chinese outlet Xinhua, which <a href=\"https:\/\/english.news.cn\/20260722\/8138411e0597448d9c99ff40d13abb40\/c.html\" ><u>further reported<\/u><\/a> that all nine satellites reached \"their designated orbits.\" Details about those <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/24839-satellites.html\"><u>satellites<\/u><\/a> were not provided.<\/p><figure class=\"van-image-figure  inline-layout\" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style=\"max-width:1920px;\"><p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:56.25%;\"><img id=\"UBWbaTxZ5PmWfVsJaqrTeA\" name=\"sea_launch_2\" alt=\"a short white rocket launches from the deck of a ship at sea\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/UBWbaTxZ5PmWfVsJaqrTeA.jpg\" mos=\"\" align=\"middle\" fullscreen=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" attribution=\"\" endorsement=\"\" class=\"\"><\/p><\/div><\/div><figcaption itemprop=\"caption description\" class=\" inline-layout\"><span class=\"caption-text\">Orienspace's Gravity-1 rocket launches nine satellites to orbit from a ship at sea on July 21, 2026. <\/span><span class=\"credit\" itemprop=\"copyrightHolder\">(Image credit: CCTV)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><p>Gravity-1 is operated by Orienspace, a company based in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/29295-rocket-history.html\"><u>rocket<\/u><\/a> stands about 100 feet (30 meters) tall \u2014 less than half the height of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/18853-spacex.html\"><u>SpaceX<\/u><\/a>'s workhorse Falcon 9 vehicle. <\/p><p>Gravity-1 consists of three core stages and four strap-on boosters, all of which feature solid rocket motors. The launcher can haul up to 14,300 pounds (6,500 kilograms) of payload to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/low-earth-orbit\"><u>low Earth orbit<\/u><\/a> (LEO), making it the most powerful solid rocket in the world. (For comparison: The liquid-fueled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/18962-spacex-falcon-9.html\"><u>Falcon 9<\/u><\/a> can deliver a maximum of 50,265 pounds, or 22,800 kg, to LEO.)<\/p><p>The Chinese vehicle now has three flights under its belt, all of which launched from ships at sea and achieved full mission success. Gravity-1's first two flights occurred in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/china-orienspace-gravity-1-rocket-launch-success-video\"><u>January 2024<\/u><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/space-exploration\/launches-spacecraft\/watch-the-2nd-ever-launch-of-chinas-record-breaking-gravity-1-rocket-video\"><u>October 2025<\/u><\/a>.<\/p><p>There won't be such a long gap before Gravity-1 flies again, if all goes to plan. The rocket is expected to launch a batch of Chinese internet satellites in the next few months, <a href=\"https:\/\/news.cgtn.com\/news\/2026-07-22\/Gravity-1-Y4-Why-launch-the-world-s-largest-solid-fuel-rocket-at-sea--1OZkwmXuobS\/p.html\" ><u>according to<\/u><\/a> the state-run outlet CGTN.<\/p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/content.jwplatform.com\/players\/kRto5mKf.html\" id=\"kRto5mKf\" title=\"China's new Gravity-1 rocket launches satellites from sea platform, blasts lots of debris!\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"auto\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><p>And Orienspace's ambitions don't end with Gravity-1. The company is also developing Gravity-2 and Gravity-3, larger, more powerful rockets that will feature liquid-fueled core stages and solid rocket boosters. <\/p><p>Gravity-2 could be ready to fly by the end of the year, CGTN reported. And that vehicle will likely lift off from an ocean-based pad as well.<\/p><p>\"Sea launch of solid-propellant rockets paves the way for future launch of liquid rockets at sea,\" said Gravity-1 chief designer Xu Guoguang, according to CGTN. \"We are also considering other methods, such as launching from drilling platforms.\"<\/p>\n                                                            <\/article>\n                            \n                        ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Orienspace&#8217;s Gravity-1, the world&#8217;s most powerful solid rocket, aced its third-ever mission on Tuesday (July 21), launching nine satellites to orbit from a ship at sea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":587,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2799,1263],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-launches-amp-spacecraft","category-space-exploration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63100"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/587"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63100"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63295,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63100\/revisions\/63295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}