spacetoday.net: Chinese commercial small rocket launches two satellites

Posted: Sun, Sep 1, 2019, 9:33 AM ET (1333 GMT)
Kuaizhou-1A launch, Aug 2019 (Exspace)

A small launch vehicle operated by the commercial arm of a Chinese company placed two satellites into orbit Friday. The Kuaizhou-1A rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 7:41 pm EDT (2341 GMT) and placed the KX-09 and Xiaoxiang-1 (07) smallsats into sun-synchronous orbits. KX-09 is a microgravity experiment for the Chinese Academy of Sciences while Xiaoxiang-1 (07) will test air traffic control technology for Chinese firm Spacety. The launch was carried out by Expace, a commercial subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, a major contractor for the Chinese space program, and it the latest in a surge of small launch vehicle developments in China.