The China Daily today tells us of the 99th launch of China’s Long March rocket series. Congratulations are due to China’s rocket scientists – we’ve come a long way from the days when it seemed like one in every two launches ended up making an unscheduled early re-entry. (On my own first stay in China in 1995 an acquaintance from Boeing told of an embarrassing incident in which a satellite launch ended up exploding shortly after take off, raining pieces on the VIPs assembled to view it, and tragically killing several farmers working in nearby fields).

The current launch involved two satellites – one to be used for scientific research, land surveying, crop yield estimation and disaster forecasting, and one that will be used for research into micro-electronics. All doubtless good practice for the next manned Chinese space mission, due in September 2008.