Long March rocket lifts off with communications satellite

China used a Long March 3B carrier rocket to place a communications satellite in space early on Friday morning.

The rocket blasted off at 00:30 am at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern China’s Sichuan province and then deployed the ChinaSat 2E satellite in its orbit, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the nation’s leading space contractor.

The State-owned company said the satellite is tasked with transmitting radio, television and wideband internet signals for domestic media organizations. It is designed and built by the China Academy of Space Technology in Beijing, a CASC subsidiary and the country’s major spacecraft maker.

The launch mark the 76th flight of the Long March 3B, which is scheduled to conduct seven more missions before year’s end, and the 383rd of the Long March fleet.

The CASC announced at the beginning of the year that it plans to carry out more than 40 launch missions this year.