On January 15, 2016 at 16:57 UTC (on January 16 at 00:57 Beijing time) the Chang Zheng-3B (Long March-3B) rocket-carrier was launched from Xichang Cosmodrome, Sichuan province, southwestern China. The rocket orbited the “Belintersat-1” communications satellite. Belintersat finalized the contract for construction of the satellite based on the China Academy of Space Technology’s DFH-4 spacecraft bus in 2012. Thales Alenia Space of France supplied Belintersat 1’s communications payload. Owned by the government of Belarus, the “Belintersat-1” satellite will broadcast television and radio programming, support corporate networking, and provide broadband Internet connectivity. Operational lifetime is expected to be 15 years.