China Launches Communications Satellite
Posted on: Friday, 14 November 2003, 06:00 CST
BEIJING (AP) - China sent a communication satellite into orbit on Saturday in its third launch since its first manned space mission last month, the government said.
The Zhongxing-20 satellite went up from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan at 12:01 a.m., the official Xinhua News Agency said.
It was carried up by a Long March 3-A rocket, Xinhua said. The launch was declared a success from the Xi'an Satellite Monitor and Control Center 25 minutes later, when the satellite entered orbit, Xinhua said.
The satellite was designed by China Academy of Space Technology and China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.
The launch is the 32nd consecutive successful launch since October 1996 - and the fourth in one month.
On Oct. 15, China sent its first man into space. Astronaut Yang Liwei circled the earth for 211/2 hours before landing in the country's northern grasslands.
Six days later, China launched an earth-surveying satellite developed in cooperation with Brazil.
An experimental research and mapping satellite was sent into space on Nov. 3 from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
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