Posted: Thu, Oct 7, 2010, 6:25 AM ET (1025 GMT)
A Long March rocket placed two research satellites into orbit on Wednesday. The Long March 4B rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 8:49 pm EDT Tuesday (0049 GMT, 8:49 am Beijing time Wednesday) and placed two Shijian 6-04 satellites into Sun-synchronous orbit. Few other details about the spacecraft were released by Chinese officials, beyond the fact that they will be used to study the space environment, although Western observers have speculated that they are electronic intelligence satellites. The launch is the latest in a surge of activity by China, with seven launches taking place in just over two months.
