Dong Fang Hong 1
China launches Dong Fang Hong 1, its first satellite
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Original prompt & settings (JSON) ↗Thirteen minutes after liftoff the satellite was in orbit; two minutes after that, China’s state broadcasters reported hearing “The East Is Red” clearly from space.
21:35 at Jiuquan
A Long March 1 rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 21:35 Beijing time on 24 April 1970 carrying Dong Fang Hong 1, a 173-kilogram spacecraft. It reached its planned orbit at about 21:48.
The satellite transmitted telemetry and the melody “The East Is Red” on 20.009 MHz. At 21:50 China’s state broadcasting authority reported receiving the musical transmission clearly.
Two sets of orbital numbers
Published elements differ because they come from different early tracking solutions. CNSA gives a 441-kilometre perigee, a 2,368-kilometre apogee and 68.44° inclination; NASA’s contemporary chronology gives 439 by 2,387 kilometres, a 114-minute period and 68.4°.
The operating duration is shakier still. One CNSA page says the spacecraft worked 28 days while also giving 14 May as the date it stopped transmitting — about 20 days after launch. The last-signal date is the better-supported figure.
A demonstration, not an observatory
Official accounts describe the mission’s work as orbital tracking, engineering verification and the music broadcast. The dedicated space-physics instruments flew later, on Shijian 1.
The bright object skywatchers could most easily follow was not the satellite: a roughly 40-square-metre optical reflector was deployed from the Long March 1 third stage to make that stage visible.
The flight made China the fifth country — after the Soviet Union, the United States, France and Japan — to orbit a satellite on an independently developed launch vehicle.
Sources
Researched 24 Aug 2026 6 sources not yet audited
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What the sources leave uncertain
- Published orbital elements differ slightly because they reflect different early tracking solutions: CNSA gives 441 by 2,368 km, while NASA’s contemporary chronology gives 439 by 2,387 km.
- One CNSA page says the spacecraft worked for 28 days but also says it stopped transmitting on May 14, only about 20 days after April 24. Treat the precise operating-duration claim cautiously; the last-signal date is better supported than “28 days.”