Posted: Wed, Mar 22 9:25 PM ET (0125 GMT)
Rocket Lab launched a pair of Capella Space radar satellites March 16. An Electron rocket lifted off from Wallops Island, Virginia, at 6:38 pm EDT (2238 GMT) and deployed the two Capella satellites into orbit an hour later. The launch was the second this year by Rocket Lab and the second Electron mission from Virginia. Rocket Lab says it's planning up to 15 launches this year and has "a strong manifest with increasing demand" for the small launch vehicle.

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Posted: Wed, Mar 22 9:21 PM ET (0121 GMT)
China launched a classified optical imaging satellite to geostationary orbit March 17. A Long March 3B rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 4:33 am EDT (0833 GMT) carrying the Gaofen-13 (02) satellite, which was deployed into a geostationary transfer orbit. China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. provided no details of the satellite's capabilities, stating only that the optical remote sensing satellite is a high-orbit, high-resolution Earth observation technology satellite. That payload was disclosed only after the launch after earlier speculation that the rocket would carry a navigation or communications satellite.

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