China launches remote sensing satellite

A Long March-4B carrier rocket carrying the Yaogan-21 remote sensing satellite blasts off from the launch pad at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Taiyuan, capital of north China's Shanxi Province, Sept 8, 2014. China successfully launched the Yaogan-21 remote sensing satellite into preset orbit at 11:22 am on Monday Beijing Time (0322 GMT) from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. Also launched in this mission was the Tiantuo-1 satellite, designed and built by the National University of Defense Technology and carried by Long March-4B rocket. Yaogan-21 will be used for scientific experiments, natural resource survey, estimation of crop yield and disaster relief, while Tiantuo-1 was designed for smart satellite experiments.[Photo/Xinhua]