HAIYANG, Shandong - China launched a Smart Dragon-3 carrier rocket from the waters near the city of Haiyang in East China's Shandong province on Tuesday, placing eight satellites into planned orbit.

The commercial rocket blasted off at 10:31 am (Beijing Time), carrying Tianyi-41 and other satellites.

The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center carried out this offshore launch.

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Smart Dragon-3 commercial carrier rocket is developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

The four-stage solid-propellant Smart Dragon-3 rocket is a type of cost-effective and highly reliable launch vehicle that is mainly used for launching spacecraft to the sun-synchronous orbit or low Earth orbit, according to the developer.

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Smart Dragon-3 has a strong carrying capacity and is suitable for a variety of commercial space launch missions. With a length of 31 meters and a maximum diameter of 2.64 meters, the rocket has a carrying capacity of about 1.5 tonnes for a 500 km solar synchronous orbit, said the developer.