Posted: Thu, Sep 4, 2014, 9:40 PM ET (0140 GMT)
A Long March rocket placed two small communications satellites into orbit on Thursday. The Long March 2D rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 8:15 pm EDT Wednesday (0015 GMT, 8:15 am Beijing time Thursday) and placed two satellites into low Earth orbits. One satellite, Chuangxin-1-04, is described by official Chinese media as providing data relay services for hydrology, meteorology, and other applications. The other satellite, Ling Qiao, is an experimental "smart satellite" for multimedia applications.

Related Links:

•  NASASpaceFlight.com article
•  Spaceflight Now article
•  Xinhua article