spacetoday.net: Chinese launch fails

Posted: Fri, Aug 19, 2011, 6:50 AM ET (1050 GMT)
Long March 2C launch of SJ11-03 (Xinhua)

The launch of a Chinese experimental satellite on a Long March Thursday failed to place the satellite into orbit, although Chinese officials said it would not delay at least one upcoming launch. A Long March 2C rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 5:28 am EDT (0928 GMT, 5:28 pm Beijing time) Thursday carrying the SJ 11-04 satellite. According to official Chinese media, the satellite failed to enter orbit because of a malfunction with the rocket; no further details on the failure, including the phase of flight when the malfunction took place, were disclosed. The satellite was reported by Chinese media to be an experimental spacecraft, although Western observers believed the satellite, like others in the Shijian 11 series, had military applications. The failure came as China was conducting a surge of launches, including two within the last week. Chinese officials said Friday that the failure would not delay plans to launch a space station module prototype, Tiangong-1, on a Long March 2F rocket later this month.