BEIJING – China on Saturday successfully launched into the orbit the 50thand 51st satellites of its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, ChinaAerospace and Technology Corporation (CASC) said.
The launch was carried out at 08:55 a.m. local time (12:55 GMT) from theXichang Satellite Launch Center in southern Sichuan province, using a ChangZheng-3B carrier rocket.CASC noted that once the satellites reached the orbit and passed necessarytests, they would become part of the navigation system.
The BeiDou system is designed as a rival to GPS in the United Stateslink,GLONASS in Russia and Galileo in the European Union. Beijing plans that thesystem will offer its services worldwide by 2020.
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This was the 319th mission for the Chang Zheng family of launch vehicles.
