China successfully sent a new data relay satellite into orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Southwest China's Sichuan Province Thursday. The Tianlian II-06 satellite was launched at 8 pm (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.