XICHANG, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday launched a Long March-11 rocket, placing a satellite in space.

The rocket blasted off at 2:17 p.m. (Beijing Time) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China and sent the satellite Shiyan-21 into preset orbit.

Shiyan means "experiment" in Chinese. The newly launched Shiyan satellite will be used for in-orbit verification of new space technologies.

It was the 456th flight mission of the Long March series rockets, said the launch center.