China launches CBERS-4 satellite on Long March rockets' 200th mission

China launched the CBERS-4 satellite, jointly developed with Brazil, on Sunday from the Taiyuan base by Long March-4B rocket, the 200th Long March rocket family launch, Xinhua reported.
The rocket blasted off at 11:26 a.m. and lifted the earth resource satellite into its scheduled orbit, according to the Taiyuan satellite launch center in north China's Shanxi province.
CBERS-4 is the fifth satellite of the Chinese-Brazilian Earth Resource Satellite (CBERS) program which began in 1988. Such satellites are for use in the monitoring, planning and management of land, forestry, water conservancy, environmental protection and agriculture.
The first satellite of the program, CBERS-1, was launched in Oct. 1999 with the second and third, CBERS-2 and CBERS-2B, launched in 2003 and 2007.
CBERS-3 was launched last December from Taiyuan but failed to enter orbit after the rocket malfunctioned.
There is an agreement to build CBERS-5, which is expected to be launched in 2017.
Sunday's mission was the 200th flight of the Long March carrier rocket family since April 24, 1970 when a Long March-1 successfully carried China's first satellite, Dongfanghong-1, into space.