Chinese Long March successfully puts communications satellite into orbit

A Long March 3B successfully launched on 1 May from Xichang in Sichuan Province, China.

The launch put into geosynchronous orbit a communications satellite called Chinasat 11 (also known as Sinosat 7), which will broadcast television to consumers in China.

It is the 15th launch attempt for the Long March 3B model, and the 176th for the launch vehicle series, according to Flightglobal/Ascend's Spacetrak database.

It was China's second launch of 2013. The first launch, on 26 April, put several small observation satellites into orbit.

Source: Flight International