Location of Xuancheng Prefecture within Anhui (China)

Guangde Rocket Launch Site () also known as Base 603 (603基地) is a suborbital launch site that was operated by the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republ ...

located in Shijiedu (), Shijie Town (),

Guangde County Guangde is a county-level city in the southeast of Anhui Province, People's Republic of China, bordering the provinces of Jiangsu to the north and Zhejiang to the east. It is the easternmost county-level division of Anhui and is under the jurisdic ...

Xuancheng Prefecture Xuancheng () is a city in the southeast of Anhui province. Archeological digs suggest that the city has been settled for over 4,000 years, and has been under formal administration since the Qin dynasty. Located in the lower Yangtze River drainage ...

Anhui province Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

on the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

east coast. The location of the site was surrounded by mountains in four directions, with no roads and no access to resources, but chosen as an upgrade to the too limited facilities of Nanhui Launch Site.

History

The construction of the launch site was started in March 1960 under the direction of Department 581 (including the Second Geophysics Institute), and completed in less than six months, including a weather station, radars, control and tracking stations, launch pad, service tower, propellant storage room, propulsion testing facilities, living quarters, etc. The launch center was first directed by the Institute of Geology and Geophysics Chinese Academy of Sciences (), then in June 1960 by the

Shanghai Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

(). Finally the

Fifth Academy of the Ministry of National Defence Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash that ...

() took its control in 1963. China launched its first ever successful T-7 sounding rocket in September 1960. From 1960 to 1966, several of the T-7 and T-7A

sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to ...

s were launched at the site. The first successful flight of a biological experimental T-7A/S1 sounding rocket transporting eight white mice was launched and recovered on July 19, 1964. The last launch was reportedly that of a

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

aboard a T-7A/S2 on 28 July 1966.

References

External links

Shijiedu

Encyclopedia Astronautica The ''Encyclopedia Astronautica'' is a reference web site on space travel. A comprehensive catalog of vehicles, technology, astronauts, and flights, it includes information from most countries that have had an active rocket research program, f ...

{{Spaceport Rocket launch sites Xuancheng Chinese space program facilities Spaceports in China

History

See also

References

External links