China launches first satellites after manned space flight

BEIJING (AFP) Oct 21, 2003
China Tuesday successfully launched two satellites from the northern Taiyuan Launch Center aboard a Long March 4-B carrier rocket, state press reported.

The Sino-Brazilian earth resources satellite and a small communication satellite belonging to the China Academy of Sciences were sent up at 11:16 am (0316 GMT) from the center in northern Shanxi province, Xinhua news agency reported.

Some 13 minutes after take-off the two satellites were placed in pre-set orbits, with the 1,550 kilogram (3,410 pound) earth resources satellite expected to be in service for two years.

The satellite, jointly developed with the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research, is expected to monitor changes in land resources and survey arable lands and grasslands, the report said.

The "Innovation I" communications satellite is China's first satellite weighing less than 100 kilograms, it said.

The launch was China's first since Shenzhou V, the nation's first manned space flight, returned safely to earth last Thursday after a 21-hour flight that orbited the earth 14 times.

SPACE.WIRE