Posted: Wed, Nov 9, 2011, 1:58 PM ET (1858 GMT)
China launched the latest in a series of Earth observation satellites on Wednesday. The Long March 4B rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 10:21 pm EST Tuesday (0321 GMT, 11:21 am Beijing time Wednesday) and placed the YaoGan 12 satellite into a sun-synchronous orbit. The satellite will be used for a variety of civil applications, including land resources and disaster monitoring, according to official Chinese media, although Western observers believe the satellite has military applications as well. The rocket also placed into orbit a small secondary satellite, Tianxun 1, that will be used for "technological verification" tests, according to Chinese reports.

Related Links:

•  NASASpaceFlight.com article
•  Xinhua article