The Zhongxing-20 telecommunications satellite, weighing 2.3 tonnes, was launched just after midnight (1600 GMT Friday) from a base in Xichang in the southwestern province of Sichuan, the Xinhua news agency said.

The launch, involving a Long March 3A rocket, was the 73rd carried out successfully by China since 1970, and its 32nd consecutive successful launch since 1996, Xinhua said.

China aims to send 11 satellites in orbit in the 14 months ahead of a second manned space flight scheduled for 2005, said Zhang Qingwei, president of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., the China Daily newspaper reported.

Beijing in December plans to launch a space exploration satellite, added Zhang, whose company is the principal manufacturer of China's Shenzhou vessels and Long March rockets.

China does not intend to send a man into space in 2004, added Zhang, who is also deputy chief commander of the Shenzhou manned flight programme.

The number of taikonauts -- the name given by western media to China's spacemen -- on the next manned launch will be decided once data from its predecessor have been analysed, said Wang Liheng, a China Aerospace executive.

China's space scientists have already indicated that the next manned flight could send three taikonauts into space.

Last month China became only the third country after Russia and the United States to send a man into orbit with astronaut Yang Liwei circling the Earth 14 times in a successful 21 hour flight.

SPACE.WIRE