On March 31, 2012 at 10:27 UTC the "Chang Zheng 3B/E” (Long March) rocket-carrier was launched from the Xichang space centre, Sichuan province in southwest China.
The Chinese rocket orbited the "Apstar-7” French-built communication satellite to broadcast television signals, Internet access and network data solutions across the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East for APT (Asia Pacific Telecom), a Hong Kong-based satellite operator. Apstar 7 was built by Thales Alenia Space of France.
