XICHANG, July 23 (Xinhua) -- China successfully sent a new data relay satellite into orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province Thursday.

Photo: People's Daily

The Tianlian II-06 satellite was launched at 8 p.m. (Beijing Time) aboard a Long March-3B carrier rocket and entered its planned orbit.

Tianlian II-06 is primarily used to provide data relay and TT&C (telemetry, tracking and command) services for crewed spacecraft such as spaceships and space stations, for medium- and low-Earth-orbit resource satellites, and TT&C support for spacecraft launches.

This was the 658th flight mission of the Long March carrier rocket series.