PHOTOS: Long March rocket boosts navigation satellite
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: February 25, 2012
In China's third space launch of the year, a Long March 3C rocket blasted off Friday with a Beidou navigation satellite, expanding the country's counterpart to the U.S. Air Force GPS program.
The 180-foot-tall rocket's liquid-fueled engines ignited and lifted the booster off the launch pad at 1612 GMT (11:12 a.m. EST). It was just after midnight Saturday at the mission's Xichang launching base in southwest China.
Credit: Chinese Ministry of Defense/Beidou Program
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