Posted: Mon, May 7, 2012, 6:51 AM ET (1051 GMT)
A Long March rocket placed a Chinese mapping satellite into orbit on Sunday. A Long March 2D rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 3:10 am EDT (0710 GMT, 3:10 pm Beijing time) Sunday and placed the Tianhui 1-02 satellite into a sun-synchronous orbit. The satellite will provide medium-resolution stereo imagery for use in mapping and other applications. The satellite is the second such mapping satellite, after the launch of the first Tianhui satellite in 2010.

Related Links:

•  NASASpaceFlight.com article
•  Xinhua article