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Tsien Hsue-shen, father of Chinese rocketry and spaceflight, leaves China on a Boxer Rebellion Scholarship to study at MIT.
Tsien Hsue-shen, at the urging of Theodore von Karman, begins graduate studies at the California Institute of Technology. He will continue there for nearly twenty years, first as a student, finally as the Goddard Professor, becoming one of the leading rocket scientists in the United States.
Tsien Hsue-shen proposed a 22,000 kg single stage winged rocket that would carry ten passengers from New York to Los Angeles in 45 minutes. More details
FBI agents interrogate Tsien Hsue-shen on allegations that he is a Communist. The same day his security clearance is revoked, making it virtually impossible to continue meaningful work in rocketry. The allegations seem unlikely to his associates at CalTech (his wife was the daughter of one of Chiang Kai-shek's leading military strategists). Two weeks later, Tsien announces his intention to return to China. Tsien, denied the possibility to work, becomes enmeshed in a tug-of-war between differing viewpoints in the US government bureaucracy: those that want to deport him as an undesirable alien, and those that want to keep him in the country because of what he knows.
After five years of wrangling, and secret talks in Geneva between the Red Chinese and US governments, Tsien is deported from the United States. Upon arrival in China, he was immediately put to work as head of the Chinese missile program. He had to introduce US systems engineering approaches to Chinese engineers, and build the technical infrastructure to enable China to build rockets.
Tsien Hsue-shen submits proposal to State Council for ballistic missile development.
Fifth Academy founded for development of ballistic missiles
Beginning of construction of rail lines to Jiuquan missile test site
Russian and China sign New Defense Technical Accord, whereby Russia will supply China with protoype atomic bomb and two R-2 missiles, and related technical data.
Russian hands over two R-2 missiles and technical drawings. Further 12 ordered.
Fifth Academy finalizes plan to proceed development of indigenous Dong Feng missiles (original DF-1, DF-2, DF-3 designations)
The Soviet CPCE advises China it will not provide prototype or drawings of atomic bombs as agreed previously.
First Chinese missile production factories built: Shenyang (missile frames) Nancheng (engines).
All Russian technical advisers withdrawn from China.
First launch of Chinese-built copy of R-2, model 1059
Tsien Hsue-shen starts development of DF-3 10,000 km missile.
First DF-2 launch. A failure. Redesigned for reduced thrust.
DF-1 renumbered as DF-3; prior DF-3 project cancelled.
Decision to proceed with DF-2A extended range version of DF-2
DF-2 launched with 20 kt warhead from Shaunchengtzu 800 km to Lop Nor, where warhead successfully explodes.
First test of prototype DF-3 (perhaps same configuration as CZ-1); not deployed.
Photo surveillance; radio transmission. More details
Photo surveillance; film capsule. More details
Photo surveillance; radio transmission. More details
Photo surveillance; film capsule. More details
Photo surveillance; film capsule; capsule returned 1/30. More details
First public announcement of a Chinese manned program came in February, 1978. By November the head of the Chinese Space Agency, Jen Hsin-Min, confirmed that China was working on a manned space capsule and a 'Skylab' space station. More details
The Chinese press reported a visit with the Chinese astronaut trainees at the Chinese manned spaceflight training centre. Photographs appeared of the astronauts in training. Pressure suited astronauts were shown in pressure chamber tests. Other trainees were shown at the controls of a space shuttle-like spaceplane cockpit. More details
Photographs appeared of the astronauts training in space suits in vacuum chambers and at the controls of a space shuttle-like cockpit
The first capsule - perhaps a prototype of a manned spacecraft design - was recovered from the South Pacific after a suborbital launch. More details
RV impacted 1300 km short of recovery fleet.
First launch from Jingyu test site.
Wang Zhuanshan, the Secretary General of the New China Space Research Society and Chief Engineer of the Space Centre of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, announced that Chinese manned flight was being postponed because of its cost. Fundamental economic development was given priority. More details
Photo surveillance; film capsule. More details
Photo surveillance; film capsule. More details
Payload stranded in LEO. More details
Stationed at 125 deg E; experimental communications. More details
Photo surveillance; film capsule. More details
Photo surveillance; film capsule. More details
Stationed at 103 deg E. More details
Capsule re-entered 10/11/86. More details
Microgravity experiments; return capsule recovered 8/10. More details
Return capsule recovered 9/17. More details
Shiyong Tongbu Tongxin Weixing; 88 deg E. More details
German crystal growth experiment in recoverable capsule. More details
Experimental weather S/C; new launch site; new L/V. More details
First successful JL-1 launch, impacting 123.53 deg N, 28.13 deg E.
Stationed at 110 deg E. More details
Shiyang Tongbu Tonxin Weixing; 98.5 deg E. National operational communications satellite. Designation 1990-2. More details
First commercial Chinese launch; Stationed at 105 deg E; formerly Westar 6 (retrieved by STS-51A and refurbished). Fixed-satellite telecommunication services and transmission of television signals. Operational life about 10 years. Orbital position 105.5E. Owner/operator: Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co, Ltd. 23-24/F, East Exchange Tower, 38-40 Leighton Rd, Hong K ong. Telex 68345 ASAT HX Fax 852 576 4111. More details
Atmospheric balloon. More details
Atmospheric balloon. More details
Biological research; Fanhui Shu Weixing. More details
Third stage failure; unusable orbit. Operational communications. More details
The Chinese leadership decided that an independent manned space program could be afforded. The Chinese National Manned Space Program was given the designation Project 921. The 921-1 manned capsule entered full scale development in 1993 and the 921-2 space station in 1999. Only preliminary work was authorised on the 921-3 reusable spaceplane. More details
Fanhui Shi Weixing; microgravity experiments; capsule returned 8/25/92. Second stage of a two stage rocket. Aug 9 launch: designation 03. Oct 6 launch: designation 04. More details
Fanhui Shi Weixing; remote sensing, microgravity experiments; capsule recovered 10/13/92. Second stage of a two stage rocket. Aug 9 launch: designation 03. Oct 6 launch: designation 04. More details
The 921-1 manned capsule entered full scale development in 1993 and the 921-2 space station in 1999. More details
Microgravity; retrievable capsule ejected into higher orbit. More details
Particles and fields research. More details
Fanhui Shi Weixing; retrievable capsule recovered 7/18/94; microgravity, remote sensing experiments. Landed in China Jul 18 More details
Asia-Pacific communications. Stationed at 137.97 deg E. More details
Dong Fang Hong. Stationed at 132 deg E. More details
Because the Apstar failure happened a few seconds later than Optus, the consequences were catastrophic. The vehicle was destroyed, and the falling wreckage landed on a village down-range of the launch site, killing at least 20 and perhaps as many as 120 people. More details
Suborbital. More details
TV; 24 C-band and 9 Ku-band transponders. Stationed at 100.5 deg E. More details
24 C-band transponders; Geostationary at 133.9E. More details
Landed in China Nov 4 More details
Geosynchronous. Stationed over 125.0E More details
Geosynchronous. Stationed over 104.6E More details
The spacecraft was left in a high inclination useless orbit by a failure of the DM-3 stage and became an insurance writeoff. Two trips around the Moon to remove the inclination under its new owner (Hughes) saw it back into very limited service (as HGS-1) by August 1998 over the Indian Ocean and available for sale at bargain rates. More details
Also known as Chinastar 1; comsat to serve China, India, Korea and Southeast Asia with 18 C-band and 20 Ku-band transponders. Operated by the China Orient Telecommunications Satellite Company, part of the Chinese telecommunications ministry. Zhongwei 1 and the CZ-3B's final liquid hydrogen upper stage were placed in an initial supersynchronous 216 x 85,035 km x 24.4 deg transfer orbit. Geostationary at 87.6 degrees E. More details
The CZ-3B's liquid hydrogen upper stage and the Sinosat were placed in a 609 x 35958 km x 19.0 deg geostationary transfer orbit at 09:45 GMT. The first two liquid apogee burns were carried out on July 19 and 21. Sinosat, Alcatel Spacebus 3000, was built in Cannes and owned temporarily by EurasSpace, a joint venture between Daimler-Benz Aerospace and the China Aerospace Corporation. After on-orbit testing it was delivered to the Sino Satellite Communications Company of Shanghai for communications services in China. Geostationary at 110.5 degrees E. More details
A replacement for Asiasat 3, placed in the wrong orbit by a Proton launch in 1997, Asiasat 3S carried C and Ku band transponders. The Blok DM3 upper stage placed it a 9,677 km x 35,967 km x 13.1 deg geosynchronous transfer orbit. Asiasat's on-board R4D apogee engine was to be used to raise perigee to geostationary altitude. Mass in transfer orbit was 3,463 kg, down to 2,500 kg after insertion in geostationary orbit. Stationed at 105 deg E. More details
Weather satellite. First launch of stretched CZ-4B booster. More details
Research satellite carried as a secondary payload to study the radiation belts. More details
The unmanned first test flight of a prototype of the Chinese Project 921-1 spacecraft took place 49 days after the planned date of October 1, 1999. Shenzhou separated from its launch vehicle and went into orbit about ten minutes after lift-off. The spacecraft was controlled from the new Beijing Aerospace Directing and Controlling Centre. The spacecraft did not manoeuvre during the flight.
The Yuanwang-3 tracking ship off the coast of Namibia picked up the signal at 18:49 UT, and commanded retro-fire. The spacecraft passed out of range of the tracking ship nine minutes later. Its trajectory arced over Africa, skimmed the coast of the Arabian peninsula, and then over Pakistan, before re-entering over Tibet.
Following re-entry, the drogue chute deployed at an altitude of 30 km with the capsules soft-landing rockets firing 1.5 m above the ground. The capsule landed at 41 deg N, 105 deg E, (415 km East of its launch pad and 110 km north-west of Wuhai, Inner Mongolia), at November 20 19:41 UT. The spacecraft had completed 14 orbits of the earth 21 hours and 11 minutes. More details
Chinese indigenous geosynchronous communications satellite. Probably an update of the DFH-3 design. Stationed at 98 deg E. More details
Second Fengyun-2 weather satellite, replacing the first FY-2 (retired in April after a three year service life). The spin-stabilised FY-2 fired its solid apogee motor early on Jun 26. By July 3, it was in a 35,791 x 35,804 km x 1.1 deg orbit drifting over the Pacific. Stationed at 104 deg E. More details
Tsinghua University of Beijing satellite equipped with an imager, communications payload, and momentum wheels for 3-axis stabilisation. The 50 kg, 0.69 x 0.36 x 0.36m box-shaped satellite used a standard Surrey SSTL microsat bus. More details
The Zi Yuan 2 remote sensing satellite was placed into a 474 x 493 km x 97.4 deg orbit. It may use the CBERS Sino-Brazilian bus of the earlier ZY-1. More details