Jielong-3 sea launch sends 8 satellites into orbit

China launched its fourth Jielong-3 solid rocket from a sea platform late Monday, putting eight remote sensing satellites into sun-synchronous orbit. The fourth Jielong-3 (Smart Dragon-3) lifted off at 10:31 p.m. Eastern, Sept. 23 (0231 UTC, Sept. 24) from a specially converted sea platform off the coast of Haiyang city, in the Eastern province of Shandong. China Rocket, a subsidiary of CASC, the country’s state-owned main space contractor, announced the mission payloads following launch success. The launch was a rideshare mission and featured a diversity of satellites and customers. More

(Source: SpaceNews - Sep 25)