On April 24, 1970 Communist China announced its entry into the space age with a 380-pound satellite broadcasting a revolutionary anthem titled “The East is Red” to a world wondering what military use Peking would make of its leap into the heavens – The Chinese who invented the rocket almost 1000 years ago and became a nuclear power in 1964 said the satellite was orbiting the earth every 114 minutes on a looping course that took it as high as l365 miles – The Chinese accomplishment was expected to add fuel to arguments of those in the United States urging the Nixon administration to bolster US defense against missile attack. A scientist who served as a colonel in the US Air Force’ in World War II Ghien Hsueh-shen was believed the driving force in the Chinese space program. He was a member of an American team sent to study German rocket development at the end of the war. The satellite launching made China the fifth nation to launch an earth orbiter with its own-booster. The other full fledged members of the space race are the United States the Soviet Union France, Japan, Britain, Canada, Italy and Australia have flown – earth satellites with American help.
Radio Peking’s announcement of the launching gave few details. It said the satellite was hurled into space Friday night-that it weighed 173 kilograms (3806 pounds), that its angle to the equator was 68 degrees and that it was broadcasting its ’The East is Red” time an a radio frequency of 20009 megacycles.
Here is that broadcast from China via Shortwave from Radio Beijing (Peking) announcing the successful flight on April 26, 1970. Hard at times to listen to, with noise and distortion to contend with, but that was the nature of shortwave broadcasting at the time.
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