At the end of World War II, the Russians and the Americans both captured German rocket scientists and rocket technology. Mao Zedong led a communist revolution and rose to power in China in1949. Concerned with the U.S. threat to use nuclear weapons in the Korean War in the early Fifties, Mao decided that China needed to have nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them in order to be respected and taken seriously by the other major powers. He established the Chinese space program in 1956. The newly created Fifty Academy of the Chinese National Defense Ministry produced the “Twelve Year Plan for Chinese Aerospace” in October of1956.
When the Soviet Union launched their Sputnik satellite in 1957, the major world powers were drawn into a space race. Not wanting to be left behind, Mao decided in 1958 that China would launch a satellite in 1959 to commemorate the ten year anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The plan was designated as Project 581. The first Chinese missile base named Base 20 was constructed in 1958.
The Chinese were on good terms with the Soviets during this period. The first Chinese missile was a copy of the Soviet R-2, a short range ballistic missile. The R-2 was a copy of the German V-2 rocket which was powered by a mixture of liquid oxygen and alcohol. The Chinese launched a sounding rocket called the T-7 with an instrument package to perform tests in 1960. Around 1960, Mao denounced the Soviet Union which triggered the so-called Sino-Soviet Split. All Soviet assistance for the fledgling Chinese missile program ended.
The DF-1, the first Chinese built copy of the Soviet R-2 short range missile, was successfully launched at the end of 1960. The Chinese developed midrange missiles in the early 1960s. They launched the T-7A sounding rocket with white mice onboard in 1964. They constructed their first intercontinental ballistic missile, the DF-5, in 1965. An intermediate range missile was also developed during the mid-1960s. The Chinese successfully launched a missile with a nuclear warhead and the 20-kiloton warhead was detonated in 1966. Work was started on a missile that could be launched from a submarine in 1967.
As the United States prepared to send a man to the moon, Mao decided that China had to compete with the other nations which had manned space programs. He started the Chinese manned space program in mid-1967. The first Chinese spacecraft intended to carry a human crew was announced in January 1968. It was called the Shuguang-1. The Chinese Space Medical Institute was founded in April of 1968 and the Central Military commission began working on the selection and training of astronauts. The Chinese were concerned about security of their military installations and moved sensitive facilities to remote areas of China’s interior. A new space center called Base 27 was constructed in Sichuan province.
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