spacetoday.net: China conducts two launches Thursday

Posted: Mon, Jun 3, 2024, 11:50 AM ET (1550 GMT)
China carried out two launches Thursday. A Long March 3B lifted off at 8:12 am EDT (1212 GMT) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center and placed the Paksat MM1 satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit. Paksat MM1, built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, will provide multi-band communications services for Pakistan's government. A Ceres-1 rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 7:39 pm EDT (2339 GMT). It placed into sun-synchronous orbit a pair of Jiguang Xingzuo laser communications test satellites and three Yunyao-1 meteorology satellites with radio occultation and infrared imager payloads.