Satellite mission marks 300th launch of Long March rocket

China lifted into space a Long March 3B carrier rocket early Sunday morning to place a communications satellite into a geostationary orbit, marking the 300th launch in the Long March family.

The 19-story-tall rocket blasted off at 0:28 am at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Southwest China’s Sichuan province, ripping apart the night sky with its orange-red flame and echoing thunder, a video published by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp in Beijing, maker of the Long March series, showed.

The mission was announced as a success about one hour after liftoff as the satellite’s solar arrays unfolded in orbit, according to the State-owned space conglomerate.

China launched its first carrier rocket – a Long March 1 that was a de facto modified ballistic missile –in April 1970 to send its first satellite, Dongfanghong 1, or East Red 1, into space.

Since then, the country has developed and built 17 types of Long March rocket; five of them have retired. The Long March family has comprised nearly 97 percent of the nation’s total launch missions, leaving a very small proportion to other series, such as the Kuaizhou.