XICHANG — China successfully sent two satellites of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) into space from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province at 15:22 on Dec 16.

The launch marked 24 medium earth orbit satellites in the BDS-3 have all been successfully sent into space, and the deployment of the core BDS-3 constellation system has been completed, according to Yang Changfeng, chief designer of the BDS.

Launched on a Long March-3A carrier rocket, the two satellites entered preset orbit after a more than three hours' flight.

The launch was the 321st mission for the Long March series carrier rockets and the 108th mission for the Long March-3A carrier rocket.