On October 7th, members of the Barcelona Moon Team had the chance to witness the launch of a Long March 3B from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in the province of Sichuan in China.

The rocket was carrying a very special payload, the W3C satellite owned by Eutelsat, which become the first European owned satellite to be launched on a Chinese rocket. W3C is based on the Thales Alenia Space Spacebus 4000 platform and it’s the fifth satellite built by Thales Alenia Space France launched by China.

The launch was impressive with the LM3B roaring to the skies with a slow and smooth movement in the begining but disapearing from the naked eye view in a few seconds. A beautiful show.