A Long March 3B rocket lifted off at 7:11 a.m. Eastern (1211 UTC) Feb. 22 from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China. Exhaust from the rocket illuminated launch infrastructure around the pad as the launch vehicle climbed into the night sky.

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the country’s state-owned main space contractor, confirmed launch success, revealing the previously undisclosed payload to be the ChinaSat-10R (Zhongxing-10R) communications satellite. U.S. Space Force space domain awareness later cataloged the satellite in geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO).

“The ChinaSat-10R satellite will mainly provide satellite communication services to users in China’s transportation, emergency response, energy, forestry, and grassland sectors, as well as countries and regions along the Belt and Road,” a CASC statement read.