A Chinese Long March 3B rocket delivered a new-generation tracking and data relay satellite to orbit Sunday to provide communications support for the country’s future human spaceflight missions and space station.
Boosted by four strap-on engines, the three-stage Long March 3B launcher lifted off at 1551 GMT (11:51 a.m. EDT) Sunday from the Xichang launch base, according to the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, or CALT.
The 184-foot-tall (55-meter) Long March 3B turned toward the east from its launch pad, surrounded by mountains in southwestern China’s Sichuan province, and headed downrange, dropping its four hydrazine-fueled boosters and core stage to fall back to Earth less than two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff.
The launch occurred at 11:51 p.m. Beijing time.
The Long March 3B’s second stage fired next, followed by ignition of the cryogenic third stage engine, which burned liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to deliver the first in a new generation of Tianlian tracking and data relay satellites into orbit. Chinese officials declared the launch a success.
U.S. military tracking data indicated the Long March 3B rocket deployed the spacecraft in an elliptical geostationary transfer orbit ranging between 114 miles (184 kilometers) and 22,259 miles (35,823 kilometers), with an inclination angled 27.1 degrees to the equator.
The satellite launched Sunday is the first spacecraft in China’s Tianlian 2 series, a new family of bigger, more capable communications satellites to link ground controllers with Chinese Shenzhou crew capsules and China’s planned space station.
