A carrier rocket carrying the last satellite of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) blasts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province, southwest China, on June 23 (XINHUA)

China launched the last satellite of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province in southwest China at 9:43 a.m. on June 23 (Beijing Time).

The satellite, the 55th in the family of BeiDou that means "Big Dipper" in Chinese, was sent into space by a Long March-3B carrier rocket, according to the China Satellite Navigation Office.