China launched a Long March-8 carrier rocket on Friday in the southern island province of Hainan, sending a new satellite group into space.

The rocket lifted off at 2:34 p.m. (Beijing Time) from the Hainan commercial spacecraft launch site. The satellite group, which is the 12th batch that will constitute the Spacesail Constellation, entered into the preset orbit successfully.

This launch marked the 649th flight mission of the Long March carrier rocket series.