China adds two more satellites to Beidou-3 System(1/3)

A Long March-3B carrier rocket and the Yuanzheng-1 (Expedition-1) upper stage attached to the carrier rocket, carrying two new satellites, the 57th and 58th satellites for the BeiDou-3 Navigation Satellite System, blast off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, Dec. 26, 2023. (Photo: China News Service/Qiu Lijun)

The launch marked the first mission of sending two MEO satellites in one go to the BeiDou-3 Navigation Satellite System since the system was completed and officially commissioned in 2020.

A Long March-3B carrier rocket and the Yuanzheng-1 (Expedition-1) upper stage attached to the carrier rocket, carrying two new satellites, the 57th and 58th satellites for the BeiDou-3 Navigation Satellite System, blast off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, Dec. 26, 2023. (Photo: China News Service/Qiu Lijun)

A Long March-3B carrier rocket and the Yuanzheng-1 (Expedition-1) upper stage attached to the carrier rocket, carrying two new satellites, the 57th and 58th satellites for the BeiDou-3 Navigation Satellite System, blast off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, Dec. 26, 2023. (Photo: China News Service/Qiu Lijun)