China's Journey To Space

Theexploration of outer space has long been the subject of relentlesspursuit by mankind, a pursuit which has not stopped since mankind started its journey to space in 1961. Chinese people have also never given on their dream of space exploration or stopped imagining and exploring space. This book presents the development history and the current standing of China’s aerospace cause using both illustrationsand pictures and in a manner of combining both the general overview and a detaileddescription of key events and figures within the industry. It will show you the difficult path of development that China’s aerospace industry has had to take, the adversities it has faced along the way,the huge, complicated and sophisticated programs it has developed and the incredibly great prospects that it has for the future. 

China is on the road to great national rejuvenation and is heading in a clear development direction. The report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China suggested that China should “carry out an innovation-driven development strategy”, “stick to the path of independent innovation with Chinese characteristics”, and “pool the wisdom and strength of the whole of society and concentrate on innovation and development”. In the future, “made in China” will give way to “created in China”, and the creation will be recognized worldwide. In the process of its development, China will draw lessons from foreign advanced technology, but more importantly, it should rely on its own efforts. This series of books timely reflects positive social achievements of China in various fields with regard to current social development trends, especially projects, enterprises and events which feature a creative spirit and creativity, and strives to interpret the most representative and latest creative achievements of China in a comprehensive and complete manner. This series consists of six books: Centennial Hydraulic Project: South-North Water Diversion, Speeding Ahead: China’s Rapid Transit Railways, Seabed Wonder: Xiamen Xiang’an Tunnel, Energy “Expressway”: West-East Natural Gas Transmission, China’s Journey to Space: From Dream to Reality and Feeding a Nation: China’s Innovative Agriculture.

China’s aerospace industry started developing in the 1950s and 1960s, and after more than five decades of efforts and endeavors, it has blazed a trail that is suitable for China and is characterized by independent innovation. This book reproduces, in an informative and readable manner, the development history and current standing of China’s aerospace industry, covering matters such as China’s carrier rockets, satellites, spacecraft, lunar exploration program, cultivation of astronauts,constructionof spaceports, etc. 

Contents

Foreword

Milestones in the Development of China's Space Industry

Long March Rocket Family

Chinese Satellites in Space

The Shenzhou Spacecraft: Chinese Nation's Millennium Dream of Spaceflight Comes True

Travel of Chinese Astronauts to Space

The Wonderful Beginnings and Progress of the Chang'e Program

Desert, Mountain and Ocean: Spaceports for China's Satellite Launch

The Broad Prospects of China's Aerospace Sector

China set about developing communications satellites in the 1970s and 1980s. Now, after three decades of effort, it has developed a communications satellite series with extensive business. By insisting on independent innovation and development, targeting internationally advanced levels and combining scientific research and practice as its principles and through development and application of three generations of practical communications satellites, China has successfully shifted the focus of its communications satellite development from exploration to practice, from experimentation to application and fromthe Chinese market to the international market. It has become one of the few countries in the world to be able to develop high-capacity communications satellites, greatly contributing to China's development of its social economy and construction of its national defense.

DFH-2

In 1975, the National Planning Commission and the National Defense Science and Technology Commission jointly presented the "Report on Development of China's Satellite Communications" and obtained approval from the central authorities. As a result, the satellite communications program was officially included in the state plan. In May of that year, at the planning symposium organized by CAST, all experts present believed that China should launch its communications satellites as soon as possible and occupy advantageous orbital slots, which would benefit development of China's geostationary satellites and thus be an urgent strategic task. Zhang Aiping, Director of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission, pointed out that "We should take communications satellites as the focus of our work and concentrate our efforts on their development, as they are of great political and economical value."

On April 8th, 1984, China's first geostationary experimental communications satellite DFH-2 was successfully launched. The satellite adopted a cylinder shape with a diameter of 2.1 m, a height of 1.6 m, a weight of 920 kg, and a service life of 3 years. With two C band transponders and global horns for both receiving and transmitting purposes on board, the satellite can provide all-weather and aroundthe-clock communications services, including television, telephone and radio, therefore assuming some domestic communications tasks. With successful operation of DFH-2, China became the fifth nation in the world to have independently launched a geostationary satellite, signifying that China had made its first step forward in the development of communications satellites...

Foreword

At 1:30, early in the morning of December 2nd, 2013, the "Chang'e 3" lunar probe flew to the Moon with the "Yutu" lunar rover on board, which realized China's first soft landing onto the Moon. The exploration of outer space has long been the relentless pursuit of mankind: In 1961, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, cosmonaut of the former Soviet Union, spent the most precious 89 minutes of his life in orbit of the Earth, starting the journey of mankind into space; In 1969, American astronaut Neil Alden Armstrong took the famous "small step" on the surface of the Moon, marking mankind's setting foot on a land other than the Earth for the first time…

China's space industry started from the 1950s and 1960s, and the successful launching of China's first man-made earth satellite Dongfanghong 1 in 1970 ushered China into the space era.

Through more than five decades' efforts, China's space industry has probed an innovative approach independently which is suitable for Chinese national circumstances. The manufacturing and launching of carrier rockets, artificial earth satellites of all kinds, manned spacecraft and lunar probes are all milestones which represent leapfrog development in China's space industry.

Chinese poet Li Bai had written such beautiful verses: "There must be a day when I will ride on winds and waves, set my cloud-white sail and cross the sea to the shore of ideals." By seizing the opportunities brought by the "Twelfth Five-year Plan" (2011-2015), China's space industry will stand at a new start point for fulfilling new space dreams.