(Credit: Courtesy Xinhua News Agency)

On Wednesday, China became the third country to conduct a sea-based space launch when it sent a Long March 11 rocket into orbit carrying experimental tech and five commercial satellites.

The rocket, also named “CZ-11 WEY,” blasted off from a platform in the Yellow Sea built from a modified drilling rig off the coast of the Shandong province. The launch platform itself was announced in a government press release earlier this week. In that initial Jun