Explore the Sky Above the Equator - Decoding the Xichang Satellite Launch Center

Author: Li Mingsheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: 100 years ago, when President Lincoln of the United States was assassinated, the news took 12 days to reach London; 100 years later, a satellite can transmit information across the globe in just one second! This is because there is a geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometers above the equator. By launching only three satellites into this orbit, global communication can be achieved. However, this orbit can only accommodate 120 satellites! To this end, international organizations have stipulated that once the quota is reached, no country may launch any more satellites upward! By 1983, over 100 satellites had been launched worldwide, yet China had not launched a single one! Thus, to seize the geostationary orbit above the equator and safeguard China's space communication rights, 35 years ago, a massive space force secretly set off from the Gobi Desert to Xichang, embarking on a 14-year grand expedition into the geostationary orbit along the path of the Long March! This book chronicles the heroic and tragic story of this expedition and the inner journeys of the aerospace pioneers. It includes both the secret decisions made by the central authorities and the arduous struggles of the grassroots; the winding history of the Xichang base and the of aerospace experts; the bloody clashes on the path to space and the tender emotions of ordinary people in the real world; the ups and downs of failed launches and the moving details of successful takeoffs.