China continued its rapid pace of space launches with a mission to add new capabilities to the country's Earth observation system. A Long March 2D rocket lifted off Thursday (Dec. 8) at 1:31 p.m. EST (1831 GMT; 2:31 a.m. Beijing Time on Friday, Dec. 9) from the hill-surrounded Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the northern province of Shanxi. Aboard the flight was the Gaofen 5 (01A) hyperspectral imaging satellite, which will join the civilian China High-resolution Earth Observation System (CHEOS). It will operate from an altitude of roughly 417 miles (672 kilometers) above Earth in a sun-synchronous orbit. Related: The…