South China Sea hosts first space launch mission

A Smart Dragon 3 carrier rocket lifted off early Wednesday morning off the coast of Yangjiang in Guangdong province, marking the first-ever space launch mission in the South China Sea.

The rocket blasted off at 3:24 am from a launch service ship and soon transported a space-based internet technology demonstration satellite into its preset orbit, according to the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, maker of the Smart Dragon 3 series.

The satellite, called CX-19, was designed and built by the Shanghai-based Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.