Posted: Sun, Jul 28, 2019, 10:17 AM ET (1417 GMT)
A Chinese startup became the first private company in the country to place a payload into orbit Thursday. The Hyperbola-1 rocket from iSpace lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 1 am EDT (0500 GMT). The company reported the small solid-fueled rocket successfully placed several small satellites into orbit, making iSpace the first private Chinese company to reach orbit. Two other companies, Landspace and OneSpace, attempted orbital launches in the last year but suffered failures.

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