Chinese Surprise Launch – Long March 4C lifts Yaogan 29 Recon Satellite to Orbit

China conducted a surprise launch on Thursday, lifting the Yaogan-29 reconnaissance satellite into orbit. According to official Chinese media, the Long March 4C rocket carrying the satellite blasted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 5:24 a.m. local time on Friday, 21:24 UTC on Thursday.