China to launch a telecom satellite for Venezuela

China will send a Venezuelan telecommunication satellite into orbit on the early morning of October 30, according to a spokesman with the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. It will be the first time that China has made a commercial space launch for a Latin American country, said the official. The rocket carrier for the Venezuela 1 Telecom Satellite will be a Long March 3II. The official did not reveal any details about the commercial launch, such as the prices of the contract and technical data and information about the satellite. According to the website of the Great Wall Industry Corporation, China's sole contractor for such space business, the country began its commercial space launch business on August 5, 1987, when a Long March 2C rocket carrier launched a micro-gravity test instrument for the French company Martra Maconi. In 1990, a Long March 3 sent the AsiaSat-1 Communications Satellite for the AsiaSat HK company into space. The Venezuelan satellite will be the 111th space flight of the Long March family, the 29th international commercial launch by China, and the 35th overseas satellite to be launched by the country.