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SSPI Timeline: 1970 – Dong Fang Hong 1

By Staff Writer | March 11, 2010

      April 24, 1970: Dong Fang Hong 1, also known as China 1, was launched aboard China’s Long March 1 rocket as part of the PRC’s Dong Fang Hong (“”The East is Red””) satellite program. The launch made China the fifth nation to launch a satellite on its own rocket. At 173 kg, it was far heavier than the first satellites of other countries. Like Sputnik 1, it carried a radio transmitter. While orbiting the Earth for 28 days, it broadcast the Chinese Communist Party anthem for which the satellite was named

      Click here to view this event in the SSPI Satellite Industry Timeline

      Visit the SSPI Satellite Industry Timeline to tour the decades of the Satellite Era

      The SSPI Satellite Timeline is the first interactive site on the Web to chronicle the rich and diverse history of the commercial satellite industry. Launched in October 2007 – the 50th anniversary of Sputnik – the Timeline is a learning tool for satellite professionals, students, the news media and the innovative companies that make up the industry