Long March 2F
The Long March 2F, also known as the CZ-2F, LM-2F and Shenjian, is a Chinese orbital carrier rocket, part of the Long March 2 rocket family. Designed to launch crewed Shenzhou spacecraft, the Long March 2F is a human-rated two-stage version of the Long March 2E rocket, which in turn was based on the Long March 2C launch vehicle. It is launched from complex SLS at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre. The Long March 2F made its maiden flight on 19 November 1999, with the Shenzhou 1 spacecraft. After the flight of Shenzhou 3, CPC General Secretary and President Jiang Zemin named the rocket 'Shenjian' meaning 'Divine Arrow'.
On 15 October 2003, a Long March 2F launched Shenzhou 5, China's first human spaceflight. It has since launched the Shenzhou 6, Shenzhou 7, Shenzhou 9, Shenzhou 10 and Shenzhou 11 missions into orbit.
Differences from the Long March 2E
Externally, the rocket is similar to the Long March 2E from which it was derived. Most of the changes involve the addition of redundant systems to improve safety, although there are some structural modifications that allow the rocket to support the heavier fairing required by the Shenzhou capsule. The rocket is also capable of lifting heavier payloads with the addition of extra boosters to the first stage.The rocket also has an "advanced fault monitoring and diagnosis system to help the astronauts escape in time of emergency", and is the first Chinese made rocket to be assembled and rolled out to its launch site vertically.
A derivative called Long March 2F/G, first launched in 2011, was designed to launch space laboratories such as Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2. It dispenses with the launch escape system and sports a larger fairing to accommodate the bulkier payloads.
Vibration issues
During the Shenzhou 5 flight, Yang Liwei became unwell due to heavy vibrations from the rocket. Although the problem was reduced somewhat by modifications to the rocket, vibrations were reported again in Shenzhou 6 necessitating further changes. According to Jing Muchun, chief designer of the Long March 2F "We made changes to the pipelines of the rocket engine, adjusting its frequency. A new design for the pressure accumulator produced evident results. The vibration has now been reduced by more than 50 percent."The predecessor Long March 2E had also been known for vibration. During two launches, excessive vibration caused the collapse of the payload fairing, destroying the Optus B2 and Apstar 2 satellites. After the payload fairing was redesigned, excessive vibration also damaged the AsiaSat 2 satellite during launch. The Long March 2E was withdrawn from the geostationary launch market a year later.
List of launches
| Flight number | Date | Launch site | Payload | Orbit | Crew | Result | Remarks |
| 1 | November 19, 1999 22:30 | LA-4/SLS-1, JSLC | Shenzhou 1 | LEO | N/A | First uncrewed test of the Shenzhou spacecraft | |
| 2 | January 9, 2001 17:00 | LA-4/SLS-1, JSLC | Shenzhou 2 | LEO | N/A | Second uncrewed test of the Shenzhou spacecraft, carried live animals | |
| 3 | March 25, 2002 14:15 | LA-4/SLS-1, JSLC | Shenzhou 3 | LEO | N/A | Third uncrewed test of the Shenzhou spacecraft | |
| 4 | December 29, 2002 16:40 | LA-4/SLS-1, JSLC | Shenzhou 4 | LEO | N/A | Final uncrewed test of the Shenzhou spacecraft prior to flying with crew | |
| 5 | October 15, 2003 01:00 | LA-4/SLS-1, JSLC | Shenzhou 5 | LEO |  Yang Liwei | China's first crewed spaceflight | |
| 6 | October 12, 2005 01:00 | LA-4/SLS-1, JSLC | Shenzhou 6 | LEO | Fei Junlong Nie Haisheng | Second crewed spaceflight, first with two astronauts | |
| 7 | September 25, 2008 13:10 | LA-4/SLS-1, JSLC | Shenzhou 7 | LEO | Zhai Zhigang Liu Boming Jing Haipeng | First flight with three crew members, first to feature extra-vehicular activity | |
| 8 | September 29, 2011 13:16 | LA-4/SLS-1, JSLC | Tiangong 1 | LEO | N/A | The first Chinese space station. Modified version Long March 2F/G with larger payload fairing | |
| 9 | October 31, 2011 21:58 | LA-4/SLS-1, JSLC | Shenzhou 8 | LEO | N/A | Uncrewed spaceflight to test automatic rendezvous and docking with Tiangong-1 | |
| 10 | June 16, 2012 10:37 | LA-4/SLS-1, JSLC | Shenzhou 9 | LEO | Jing Haipeng Liu Wang Liu Yang | Three crew members, to test rendezvous and docking with Tiangong-1 | |
| 11 | June 11, 2013 09:38 | LA-4/SLS-1, JSLC | Shenzhou 10 | LEO | Nie Haisheng Zhang Xiaoguang Wang Yaping | Three crew members; rendezvous and docking with Tiangong-1 | |
| 12 | September 15, 2016 14:04 | LA-4/SLS-1, JSLC | Tiangong 2 | LEO | N/A | Second Chinese space laboratory Tiangong-2, launched by 2F/G variant | |
| 13 | October 16, 2016 23:30 | LA-4/SLS-1, JSLC | Shenzhou 11 | LEO | Jing Haipeng Chen Dong | Two crew members; rendezvous and docking with Tiangong-2 for a 30-day mission. | |
| 14 | May 2020 | LA-4/SLS-1, JSLC | Experimental space plane | LEO | N/A | Test flight of an Experimental space plane | |
| 15 | 2021 | LA-4/SLS-1, JSLC | Shenzhou 12 | LEO | TBA TBA TBA | Two to three crew members; planned to vist the Tianhe-1, the first module of the Chinese Space Station | |
| 16 | 2021-22 | LA-4/SLS-1, JSLC | Shenzhou 13 | LEO | TBA TBA TBA | Two to three crew members; planned to vist the Tianhe-1, to continue construction of the space station |