Posted: Mon, Nov 12, 2007, 6:25 AM ET (1125 GMT)
A Long March rocket placed a Chinese remote sensing satellite into orbit on Monday. The Long March 4C lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 5:48 pm EST Sunday (2248 GMT Sunday, 6:48 am Beijing time Monday) and placed the Yaogan-3 satellite into orbit. The spacecraft is the third in a new series of what are believed to be synthetic aperture radar imaging satellites; official Chinese accounts describe the spacecraft as being used for a variety of Earth sciences applications. The Long March 4C that launched the spacecraft is a previously-unannounced variant of the Long March family boosters. Chinese reports offered no details about the rocket.

Related Links:

•  Xinhua article
•  AFP article
•  RIA Novosti article