On December 28, 2016 at 03:23 UTC the “Long March – 2D” (“Changzheng-2D”) rocket-carrier was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province. The rocket orbited two “Gaojing-1” Earth observation satellites. The satellites are designed to collect optical black-and-white imagery with a resolution of less than 50 centimeters, making them the highest-resolution civilian Earth-observing satellites launched by China. But the two-stage launcher did not put the “Gaojing-1” satellites into the expected orbit, raising concerns among outside observers that the “Long March-2D” rocket ran into problems. The rocket also carried a small amateur radio satellites made by Beijing high school students.