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China has confirmed the loss of its Shiyan-10 satellite, despite an otherwise successful liftoff on Monday (Sept. 27). The Shiyan-10 satellite launched to space on a Long March 3B rocket, which lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China around 4:20 a.m. EDT (0820 GMT; 4 p.m. local time) on Monday (Sept. 27). The spacecraft was China's second orbital launch of the day, following the Jilin-1 Gaofen 02D satellite, which was carried by a Kuaizhou-1A rocket that lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 2:19 a.m. EDT (0619 GMT; 2:19 p.m. local...

China launched a new geostationary remote sensing satellite from the renovated Xichang Satellite Launch Center on Sunday. A Long March-3B/G3 (Y3) – Chang Zheng-3B/G3 – rocket orbited the Gaofen-13 satellite, lifting off from the LC2 pad at 16:57 UTC. The new satellite, possibly an improved version of the CAST developed Gaofen-4 orbited on December 28, 2015, is being designated as a high-orbit optical remote sensing satellite to be mainly used for land survey, crop yield estimation, environmental management, weather warning and forecast, and comprehensive disaster prevention and mitigation, providing information services for national economic development. However, some rumors indicate that...

A Chinese rocket carrying a new communications satellite for Indonesia has failed to reach orbit in a launch gone awry, the second failure for China's space agency in less than a month, state media reported today (April 9). The Long March 3B rocket lifted off today at 7:46 a.m. EDT from China's Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan, where the local time was 7:46 p.m. on Thursday night, according to the Xinhua News Agency. The rocket was carrying the Palapa-N1, also known as the Nusantara Dua, a next-generation satellite for broadband and broadcast communications built for...

<p>BEIJING (AP) — China launched a ground-breaking mission Saturday to land a spacecraft on the largely unexplored far side of the moon, demonstrating its growing ambitions as a space power to rival Russia, the European Union and the U.S.</p> <p>A Long March 3B rocket carrying a lunar probe blasted off at 2:23 a.m. from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province in southwestern China, the official Xinhua News Agency said.</p>