XICHANG, March 26 (Xinhua) -- China successfully sent a new data relay satellite into orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Wednesday.
The Tianlian II-04 satellite was launched at 23:55 p.m. (Beijing Time) aboard a Long March-3B carrier rocket and entered its planned orbit.
Tianlian II-04 is China's second-generation geosynchronous orbit data-relay satellite.
It will provide data relay and TT&C (telemetry, tracking and command) services for manned spacecraft such as spaceships and space stations, for medium and low-Earth-orbit resource satellites, and TT&C support for spacecraft launches.
This was the 565th flight mission of the Long March carrier rocket series.
Source: Xinhua
China on Sunday sent a new communication test satellite into orbit from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan Province.
Nasa astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to Earth in a SpaceX capsule on Tuesday with a soft splashdown off Florida's coast, nine months after their faulty Boeing Starliner craft upended what was to be a week-long stay on the International Space Station.
Chinese researchers have developed the country's first carbon-14 nuclear battery, marking a milestone in the research and development of micro-nuclear battery technologies.