China has successfully launched a communications satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit using a Long March 3A rocket.

The Zhongxing 20 spacecraft lifted off at 12:01 a.m. local time Saturday (11:01 a.m. EST; 1601 GMT Friday) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the Sichuan Province of southwest China.

The official Xinhua News Agency said 25 minutes after liftoff, the Xi'an Satellite Monitor and Control Center proclaimed the launch successful, saying that the satellite has entered an elliptic orbit with a perigee of 212 kilometers and an apogee of 41981 kilometers. The satellite will maneuver itself into geostationary orbit 36,000 km above the equator at 103 degrees East longitude.

Zhongxing 20, reportedly weighing 2.3 tons, was designed by China Academy of Space Technology with China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp

The launch marked the 73rd for a Long March vehicle since 1970, and the 32nd consecutive successful launch since October 1996.

For China, it was the fourth space launch in a month. The country's first manned spaceflight was launched on October 15. That was followed by the October 21 deployment of a remote sensing satellite and the November 3 launch of a recoverable science space platform.