China Successfully Launches New Spy Satellite Into Orbit

Chinese Long March 3A Rocket Orbits New Satellite

China has developed a family of boosters over the years, including new development of a heavy-lift launcher to fly by 2011. Image (Image credit: China National Space Administration)

China launched an optical military reconnaissance satellite Thursday (May 10) aboard a Long March 4B rocket, successfully orbiting another member in a fleet of spacecraft spying for Chinese intelligence agencies.

The secretive Yaogan 14 satellite launched at 0706 GMT (3:06 a.m. EDT) from the Taiyuan space center in Shanxi province in northern China. Launch occurred at 3:06 p.m. Beijing time.

The 150-foot-tall Long March 4B rocketflew south from Taiyuan to reach an orbit flying over Earth's poles.

Xinhua reported Yaogan 14 is a remote sensing satellite for scientific experiments, land surveys, crop monitoring, and responding to natural disasters. But the official news agency never acknowledges the service of Yaogan satellites to China's military-run space program.

Chinese officials have not disclosed details of Yaogan 14's capabilities.

Thursday's launch was the seventh space launch of the year for China.

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Stephen Clark is the Editor of Spaceflight Now, a web-based publication dedicated to covering rocket launches, human spaceflight and exploration. He joined the Spaceflight Now team in 2009 and previously wrote as a senior reporter with the Daily Texan. You can follow Stephen's latest project at SpaceflightNow.com and on Twitter.