A Chinese satellite launch and space centre located under military jurisdiction in Sichuan Province. It became operational in 1983 with a Chang Zheng (Long March) rocket launch on 8 April 1984. The site was used throughout the 1990s to provide commercial launch services for foreign customers, but the programme suffered several high-profile failures, including a failed launch that veered off course, killing six people and injuring another 57 in a nearby village; its payload (the US$125 million Intelsat 708) was also destroyed. In 2004, Xichang received a major overhaul in order to support China’s robotic lunar programme.