On this day, 55 years ago, on April 24, 1970 (March 19, 1970, the lunar calendar), my country's first artificial earth satellite was launched into space. China launches its first artificial earth satellite On April 24, 1970, the first artificial earth satellite "Dongfanghong-1" designed and manufactured by my country itself was successfully launched by the "Long March-1" carrier rocket. The satellite's orbit is 439 kilometers away from the closest point of the earth and the farthest point is 2384 kilometers. The angle between the orbital plane and the earth's equatorial plane is 68.5 degrees, and it orbits the earth for 114 minutes. The satellite weighs 173 kilograms and broadcasts the music "The East is Red" at a frequency of 20009 megacycles. Chairman Mao Zedong's call that "we also want to build artificial satellites" was realized. It is the star of science in China and an outstanding contribution made by China's working class, the People's Liberation Army, and intellectuals to the motherland. During the Third National People's Congress in 1964, Zhao Jiuzhang, a well-known scientist who actively advocated the development of artificial satellites in my country, wrote to Premier Zhou, suggesting that artificial satellite research should be carried out as soon as possible. This proposal was quickly supported by leaders such as Nie Rongzhen, Zhang Aiping, and Zhang Jinfu, as well as scientists such as Zhu Kezhen and Qian Xuesen. In order to carry out the development of my country's first satellite, China Academy of Sciences began to establish the Satellite Design Institute in September 1965. Under the leadership of scientist Qian Ji, scientific and technological personnel demonstrated the overall plan of my country's first artificial satellite and determined that on the basis of ensuring reliability, the satellite's various indicators should be further advanced than the first satellite of various countries, that is, launching a continuous signal. At that time, the music and dance epic "The East is Red" had a great impact and left a deep memory on people. Scientists decided to use electronic oscillations to simulate the music of "The East is Red". This is an identification signal with China characteristics and relatively advanced technology. In May 1966, through joint agreement between the heads of the Science, Technology and Industry Commission for National Defense, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Seventh Aircraft Department, my country's first artificial satellite was named "Dongfanghong-1". At the beginning of 1967, it was officially determined that my country's first artificial satellite would broadcast the music "The East is Red" so that people around the world can hear the voice of China satellites. In December, my country's first artificial satellite was officially named "Dongfanghong-1". The overall goal can be summarized in four sentences: be able to go up, be able to grasp, be able to see, and be able to hear. "Dongfanghong-1" has gone through the development stages of appearance, preliminary sample, sample and normal sample. The scientific and technological personnel have worked hard and worked together to overcome one difficulty after another. On April 1, 1970, two "Dongfanghong-1" satellites and one "Long March-1" carrier rocket arrived at the Jiuquan launch site in northwest China. At 10 o'clock on April 24, 1970, the first, second and third stages of the launch vehicle were working normally, the satellite and rocket were separated normally, and the satellite was accurately put into orbit. After receiving the news, Premier Zhou said happily: "Prepare to celebrate"! The next day, he announced at the three-country and four-party meeting that was being held in my country at that time: "In order to celebrate the success of this meeting, I have brought you a gift from the China people. This is yesterday China successfully launched the first artificial satellite..." Since the first artificial satellite entered space, my country's space technology has entered a new era. Especially after the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, under the leadership of the Party Central Committee, the State Council, and the Central Military Commission, the satellite industry is booming. Remote sensing satellites were successfully launched and recovered many times; geostationary communication satellites were successfully launched and fixed; The polar orbiting meteorological satellite was successfully launched. This series of successful achievements marks that my country's satellite technology has reached world level in many important fields, and shows that we have embarked on a path to develop the satellite industry that is suitable for my country's national conditions and has China characteristics. Photos from the Cultural Revolution: People compete to look at the satellite as it passes over Beijing.