There were more successful space launches in 2014 than in any year since 1992, with Russia, the United States and China responsible for more than 80 percent of global launch activity.
China launched a spacecraft Wednesday to replenish the country’s fleet of meteorological satellites providing warnings of weather fronts and tropical cyclones across Asia.
An Earth-watching satellite developed by China and Brazil lifted off on a Long March 4B rocket, replacing an environmental craft lost in a launch mishap last year.
A Long March 2D rocket blasted off from a remote space base in northwest China on Thursday and climbed into orbit with a clandestine satellite to collect intelligence for the Chinese government.
China launched a Long March rocket last week with a satellite Western analysts believe will conduct all-weather global radar surveillance for the Chinese military.
China put an experimental Shijian military satellite into orbit Monday on top of a Long March rocket, marking the third Chinese space launch in a week.
China launched a demonstrator probe on a round-trip flight around the moon to test out a heat shield and landing capsule planned for use on a lunar sample return mission in 2017.