Posted: Fri, Jul 6, 2007, 4:34 AM ET (0834 GMT)
A Long March rocket placed a French-built domestic communications satellite into orbit late Thursday. The Long March 3B lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 8:08 am EDT Thursday (1208 GMT, 8:08 pm Beijing time Thursday) and placed the Chinasat 6B satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. The spacecraft, a Spacebus 4000C2 model built by Thales Alenia Space (formerly Alcatel Alenia Space), will be located in GEO at 115.5 degrees east. ChinaSatcom plans to use the satellite's 38 C-band transponders to relay television programming across China and elsewhere in East Asia. The satellite is a so-called "ITAR-free" satellite, lacking any US-provided components, so that the French-built satellite could be launched from China.

Related Links:

•  Xinhua article
•  Space News article (subscription required)
•  Spaceflight Now article
•  AP article
•  NASA SpaceFlight.com article