JIUQUAN, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday launched a Long March-2D carrier rocket, placing three satellites in space.

The rocket blasted off at 3 p.m. (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China and sent the satellites Yaogan-37, Shiyan-22A, and Shiyan-22B into preset orbit.

The three satellites will mainly be used for in-orbit verification of new technologies such as space environment monitoring.

It was the 461st flight mission of the Long March series rockets.