China launched a pair of military satellites aboard its CZ-2C (Chang Zheng 2C) rocket Wednesday, November 3. Lifting off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 07:43 UTC (3:43 EDT), the CZ-2C deployed the two Yaogan 32-02 spacecraft into sun-synchronous orbit following a short ascent.
Wednesday’s launch had originally been slated for mid-September. While the reason for its lengthy delays has not been announced, reports around the time of the original launch date suggested that an issue had arisen with valves on the rocket, necessitating repairs before the launch could proceed.