Long March 3B

A Long March 3B rocket driven by four strap-on boosters blasted off Wednesday from the Xichang space base in southwestern China, delivering a communications payload to orbit a half-hour later to likely begin service for the Chinese military.

A Chinese Long March 3B rocket lifted off Tuesday from the country’s Xichang space base, heading into orbit with a secretive payload believed by Western observers to be a military communications satellite.