Chinese Rocket Launch Boosts Startup’s Bid to Be Nation’s SpaceX

(Bloomberg) — A Chinese rocket startup successfully put five satellites into orbit Monday, marking the start of an ambitious launch schedule for 2023 that could give the Beijing-based company an edge in the race to build a Chinese competitor to Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX.

Galactic Energy’s rocket took off shortly after 1 p.m. local time from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. It was the fifth launch of its Ceres-1 rocket and the first in a series of eight to 10 missions planned for this year, the company said, adding that it has completed the orbital launch of 19 commercial satellites, a record for a private Chinese company.