This week, a small part of Chinese aerospace history will be on display at Wuzhou Guest House in Shenzhen.
The rocket 'Long March 1' carried out the PRC's first successful satellite launch in 1970, bringing even-more-patriotically-named 'The East is Red 1' into orbit around Earth. In 1971, the rocket launched a second time without mishap. After being retired, it was followed by a long line of Long March models, many of which are still active today.
In Shenzhen, visitors can view a reserve rocket for Long March 1; in other words, a doppelganger of the storied ship.
The three-stage vessel is close to 30 meters long and has a diameter of 2.25 meters at its broadest. Its maximum liftoff weight is 81.5 tons.
The Long March 1 twin is in town as part of the 14th Qian Xuesen Forum – an aerospace convention named after Long March 1's designer – which brings together professionals spanning multiple fields, including the military. The near-historic spacecraft was shipped over from Xi'an and will be on display in Shenzhen, free of charge, until January 22.
After Long March 1's successful 1970 mission, China became the fifth country in the world to achieve independent launch capability. Since then its space program has made leaps and bounds: in the second half of this year, a Chinese probe is expected to make the first ever soft landing on the far side of the moon. The space center is even soliciting messages from the public (message WeChat account 'slecbj' before March 6) to be sent to the 'dark side of the moon.'
Shooting for the stars comes with costs, however. Experts say parts of orbiting space station Tiangong-1, launched in 2011, could crash on Earth, possibly hitting Europe in the coming months. Tiangong-1 stopped functioning last March and no longer has a radio connection to China's space agency.
See listing for Wuzhou Guest House.
[Images via SZnews.com]
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