China's commercial space venture, Galactic Energy, has achieved a significant milestone by successfully conducting its first sea launch, becoming the first private Chinese space enterprise to carry out both land and sea-based launches.

The historic event saw the CERES-1S Y1 carrier rocket lifting off from a mobile launch platform in the Yellow Sea off the coast of East China's Shandong province at 5:34 p.m. Beijing Time on Tuesday, carrying Tianqi Constellation satellites 21 to 24 into an 800 km orbit, in a mission named "The Little Mermaid".

This latest effort follows four successful land-based launches from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China's Gobi Desert earlier this year. Compared to land launches, sea launches offer the advantage of selecting launch and landing locations, thereby enhancing launch efficiency and safety, while also providing greater flexibility.