T-shirt (unisex) - Jiuquan Launch Center

Please refer to the bottom of the page for sizing details & other information.

The Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (酒泉卫星发射中心) is China’s oldest launch base (if we set aside experiments with sounding rockets in the 1960s).  In an interesting parallel with the Baikonur Cosmodrome (which was built a good distance away from the original city of Baikonur), The Jiuquan launch center, situated in Inner Mongolia, is named after the city of Jiuquan, situated a good 200+ km away in Gansu province.

Jiuquan bears a historical importance in Chinese spaceflight history:

• It’s from Jiuquan that the first orbital launch was performed, in 1970 (DFH-1 on-board a Long March 1)
• China’s crewed spaceflight missions take place exclusively from Jiuquan (thanks to the Long March 2F and the Shenzhou spacecraft)
• The experimental space stations Tiangong-1 and -2 were launched from Jiuquan on a modified version of the Long March 2F, respectively in 2011 and 2016.

The Jiuquan launch center is situated in the Gobi desert, with a harsh climate which can experience temperatures below -30°C in winter, and above 40°C in summer. This is why the payload fairings and the rocket body occasionally used thermal tiles to protect the payload/propellant (we did a deep dive on this in a recent episode!).

To pay tribute to Jiuquan's iconic location, we've included the vast sand dunes of the Gobi desert as well as the native camels. The rocket plume is a checkered motif, a reference to the omnipresence of this pattern on Chinese rockets and launch-related infrastructure. This checkered design not only serves an aesthetic purpose, but also a technical one: it is reported to help with optical tracking during launch. We've reimagined this pattern as the pathway explored by each historic mission.

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Our T-Shirt is 90% combed and ring-spun cotton, 10% polyester, providing a soft and light feel with just the right amount of stretch. The fabric weight is 153 g/m² (4.2 oz/yd²). It's unisex and is comfortable & flattering for kinds of profiles. The double stitching on the neckline and sleeves add more durability to what is sure to be a favorite! Our t-shirts are pre-shrunk and quarter-turned to avoid creases down the center.

Please pay special attention to the size (table below), as at this stage, our return policy does not allow exchanges. For further information, please refer to our return policy and FAQ.

Size guide