Private firm in Beijing makes history after successful mission

A private Chinese company used its own carrier rocket to send two satellites and several experimental payloads into space on Thursday, marking the first orbital mission carried out by the country's private-sector space industry.

The SQX-1 Y1 solid-fuel carrier rocket, the first in the SQX-1 series, blasted off at 1:00 pm from a launchpad at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China's Gobi Desert.

Nearly 15 minutes after ignition, the 25-meter-tall rocket successfully placed the two satellites - one from State-owned defense conglomerate China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp and the other from the Beijing Institute of Technology - into a low-Earth orbit about 300 kilometers above the ground.