The ZY-2 satellite, the third of its kind in operation, was blasted into orbit by a Chinese Long-March 4-B rocket from the base in Shaanxi province, Xinhua news agency said.

ZY-2 satellites are mainly used for environmental protection, urban planning, farming, avoiding natural disasters and scientific experiments, Xinhua said.

China became only the third country to send a man into orbit, after the United States and the former Soviet Union, in October 2003.

All rights reserved. © 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.