SHANGHAI, July 22 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday sent a Gravity-1 carrier rocket into space from waters off the coast of Shanghai in east China, marking a complete success for this flight test mission.

A Gravity-1 carrier rocket carrying nine satellites blasts off from waters off the coast of Shanghai, east China, July 22, 2026. The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center launched the commercial rocket at 10:54 a.m. (Beijing Time), placing nine satellites into their designated orbits. (Photo: Xinhua)

The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center launched the commercial rocket at 10:54 a.m. (Beijing Time), placing nine satellites into their designated orbits.

This flight marks Gravity-1's first open-sea launch and China's first commercial sea-based launch in the East China Sea off the Yangtze River Delta.

Unrestricted by fixed maritime zones, the mobile launch platform allows for flexible site selection, enhancing launch efficiency and promoting a diversified layout for China's space launch capabilities.

Project officials noted that the mission further verified the adaptability of the rocket model's solid-strap-on configuration to complex sea conditions and its extended standby capability.

Developed by the Chinese commercial aerospace company, OrienSpace, the medium-lift Gravity-1 has a low-Earth-orbit payload capacity of 6.5 tonnes and is capable of delivering a 4.2-tonne payload to a 500-km sun-synchronous orbit, catering to various multi-satellite deployment missions.

The deployed satellites will serve diverse purposes, ranging from all-weather Earth observation and commercial industry services to technical test.