Posted: Fri, Jan 13 8:20 PM ET (0120 GMT)
A Long March rocket placed a weather satellite into orbit on Friday. The Long March 3A rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 7:56 pm EST Thursday (0056 GMT, 8:56 am Beijing time Friday) and placed the FengYun-2F into geosynchronous transfer orbit. The satellite is the latest in a series of geosynchronous orbit weather satellites that operate from 105 degrees east, providing images and other meteorological data. The launch was the second in under a week by China; the two launches are the first two orbital launches of 2012.

Related Links:

•  NASASpaceFlight.com article
•  Spaceflight Now article
•  Xinhua article

Posted: Tue, Jan 10 8:20 AM ET (1320 GMT)
A Long March rocket placed a Chinese remote sensing satellite into orbit Monday for the first launch of 2012. The Long March 4B rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 10:17 pm EST Sunday (0317 GMT, 11:17 am Beijing time Monday) and placed the Ziyuan 3 satellite into a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit. The satellite, weighing 2,650 kilograms, will provide high-resolution images for civilian applications, according to Chinese reports. The rocket also carried as a secondary payload the VesselSat2 satellite, a 63-kilogram spacecraft built by Luxembourg company LuxSpace. The satellite will be used by American company ORBCOMM to augment its network of satellites that relay signals for the Automatic Identification Service ship-tracking system.

Related Links:

•  NASASpaceFlight.com article
•  Spaceflight Now article
•  Xinhua article
•  ORBCOMM press release

China issues space policy white paper
Posted: Fri, Dec 30 5:49 AM ET (1049 GMT)
The Chinese government published on Thursday a white paper describing that country's five-year plan for spaceflight, including development of new launch vehicles and...

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China launches remote sensing satellite
Posted: Fri, Dec 23 11:03 AM ET (1603 GMT)
A Chinese rocket placed a high-resolution remote sensing satellite into orbit on Thursday. The Long March 4B rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite...