Abstract: The orientation model of space borne images based on orbit parameters and that based on state vectors are compared in this paper. A method for the fitting of orbit and the interpolation of state vectors based on imprecise ephemeris data is proposed and the orbit correction model that is suitable for long-strip satellite image orientation is built in flight coordinate system. Then, the influence of rotation of the Earth to the rigorous orientation model of satellite linear array images is analyzed. Through adaptive process of the yaw angle, imaging equation and block adjustment model of spaceborne linear array images are built based on satellite state vectors in Earth Centered Rotating coordinate system. At last, 4 pairs (8 scenes) SPOT5/HRS long-strip stereo images in Eastern Tibet Plateau and Eastern Talimu Basin from Project of China Western Topographic Mapping at 1:50,000 scale are used as data sources. According to different numbers and distributions of GCPs, positioning experiments of different schemes are carried out. Experiment results show that the statistical precision can achieve 8.0 m under the circumstance of sparse GCPs.