Posted: Tue, Aug 19, 2014, 10:09 AM ET (1409 GMT)
A Long March rocket placed an Earth observation satellite into orbit for China on Tuesday. The Long March 4B rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 11:15 pm EDT Monday (0315 GMT, 11:15 am Beijing time Tuesday) carrying the Gaofen-2 satellite. The spacecraft is described by Chinese media as a high-resolution Earth observation satellite, capable of taking images with a resolution of one meter. The spacecraft will be used for civil applications, according to official accounts. The rocket included as a secondary payload the BRITE-PL-2, a Polish astronomy nanosatellite. The launch is the second by China in less than two weeks, after a hiatus of more than four months.

Related Links:

•  NASASpaceFlight.com article
•  Xinhua article