April 12, 2010: In the last two decades, China has carried out 30 commercial satellite launches, putting 36 satellites in orbit. China's "Long March" rocket is based on Russian designs, meaning it is simple, cheap and reliable. This has made China a major player in the satellite launching business. China competes on price. The Space Shuttle is being retired because it's the most expensive way get stuff into orbit. Satellites sent up via the Shuttle cost $25 million a ton. The Russians and Chinese will do it for $3-6 million a ton. But insurance can more than double that cost if there have been a number of recent failures with Russian and Chinese boosters. This keeps more reliable American and European boosters in business. The Long March has a failure rate of about 11 percent, which is about twice the rate of the most used Russian launcher. The Space Shuttle failure rate is two percent.

2010年4月12日：在最近二十年，中国已经进行30次商业卫星发射，将36颗人造卫星送入轨道。中国的“长征”运载火箭以俄国设计为基础，意谓它是简单、偏宜和可靠的。这已经使中国成为人造卫星业务的一个主要参与者。中国在价格上竞争。因为航天飞机是将东西送到轨道最昂贵的方法，所以正在被退役。经由航天飞机递送卫星价格每吨二千五百万美元。俄国和中国将会大概做到每吨三到六百万美元。但是保险费将超过双倍这个代价是因为俄国和中国最近已经有许多失败例子。这使得更可靠的美国和欧洲助推器保留在行业中。“长征”有约11%的失败率，是大多数使用俄国运载火箭的两倍。航天飞机失败率是2%。

The Chinese Long March can put 9.5 tons in low earth orbit, and 5.5 tons in a high one (geostationary transfer orbit). The Chinese took their time to perfect Long March, requiring 28 years to make the first fifty launches, and nine years for the next fifty. So far, Long March has carried out 123 launches.

“长征”能把9.5吨放入低地球轨道和把5.5吨放入一个高轨道（地球同步运行轨道）。中国花时间去完善“长征”，用28年去实现第一个五十次运载火箭发射和又一个五十次用了九年。到现在为止，“长征”系列已经进行123次发射。

Some 900 active satellites are in orbit, and nearly half of them are American. About 75 percent of all satellites are non-military (most of them commercial, the rest government non-military birds.) The Russian Sputnik was the first satellite ever put in orbit, in 1957. The U.S. followed in 1958. Since then, eight other nations, including Iran, have done the same. Ukraine was the last to do so, in 1995. Israel launched its first satellite in 1988. France launched its first satellite in 1965, Japan and China in 1970, Britain in 1971, and India in 1980. Iran claims to have put a satellite in orbit recently, but there is no conclusive proof.

在轨道活跃900颗人造卫星，而且几乎它们一半是美国的。大约75%的人造卫星是非军用（它们大部份商业用，其余者政府非军事）。在1957年，俄国卫星是第一颗在轨人造卫星。美国随着在1958年。自从那以后，其他八个国家，包括伊朗，已经做到。法国在1965年发射了它的第一颗人造卫星，日本和中国在1970年，英国在1971年和印度在1980年。以色列在1988年发射了它的第一颗人造卫星。目前乌克兰是最后者，在1995年。伊朗宣称最近已经把一颗人造卫星放入轨道，但是没有确凿的证明。