XICHANG, June 16 (Xinhua) -- China launched a Long March-3B carrier rocket on Tuesday to place a new satellite, Shijian-31, into space successfully.

Photo: People's Daily

The rocket blasted off at 5:45 p.m. (Beijing Time) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern Sichuan Province.

The satellite is mainly used for space environment detection.

It was the 651st flight mission of the Long March series carrier rockets.