1958: Qian presents plans for China's first satellite and the rocket to launch it to the communist party leadership.
April 24, 1970: China launches its first satellite using a modified CSS-3 intercontinental ballistic missile, later renamed the Long March 1 rocket. The satellite remains in orbit for 26 days transmitting the revolutionary song "The East Is Red."
1975: China successfully recovers a remote sensing satellite from orbit, a key step in developing a space vehicle capable of surviving re-entry and returning to Earth.
1979: Shanghai-based newspaper Wen Hui Bao publishes a photograph of a Chinese astronaut training in a space suit. These were soon followed by the release of more detailed photographs clearly showing Chinese astronauts undergoing training in a simulated space cabin.
Late 1980s: China announces ambitious space plans including the development of a small space shuttle system, a space station and a series of new launchers.
1986: China announces it is entering the commercial space launch market. The announcement is timely following the suspension of the U.S. shuttle program following the Challenger disaster and the failure of other American satellite luanch vehicles.
1989: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev visits Beijing, restoring links between China and the Soviet Union. Process leads to improved cooperation in a number of areas, including Chinese access to Soviet space expertise.
1990: China launches and successfully recovers a "biosat" containing 60 animals and plants, including rats and guinea pigs.
1992: Project 921, the mission to put China's first man in space, gets the official go-ahead from the communist leadership.
April 25, 1996: Yuri Koptev, director-general of the Russian Space Agency, visits Beijing and signs an inter-government agreement on space cooperation. No details about the agreement have ever been revealed.
