Posted: Tue, Jun 15, 2010, 7:17 AM ET (1117 GMT)
A Chinese rocket launched a small scientific research satellite on Tuesday. The Long March 2D rocked lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 9:39 pm EDT Monday (0139 GMT, 9:39 am Beijing time Tuesday) and placed the Shijian 12 satellite into low Earth orbit. The spacecraft, whose launch was not widely publicized ahead of time, is described as a research satellite that will carry out "scientific and technological experiments".

Related Links:

•  Xinhua article
•  NASASpaceFlight.com article