WENCHANG, Hainan, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- China launched a Long March-8 rocket to place 22 satellites in space on Sunday, setting a domestic record for the most spacecraft launched by a single rocket.

　　The rocket blasted off at 11:06 a.m. (Beijing Time) at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern Hainan Province before sending the satellites into preset orbit.

　　These satellites will then be released in 12 groups. They will be mainly used for commercial remote sensing services, marine environment monitoring, forest fire prevention and disaster mitigation.

　　Produced by Xinhua Global Service