Chinese rocket and satellite designer Ren Xinmin has passed away at the age of 101. While Qian Xuesen is regarded as founder of the Chinese space programme, with benign support of Chairman Mao and Chinese Premier Chou Enlai, one of the best Chinese rocket and satellite engineers which helped the programme become a reality was Ren Xinmin.
Having studied at artillery college and for a time at University of Michigan in USA, Dr Ren became the technical director of the Long March 1 (CZ-1) rocket programme which it launched China’s first satellite, Dong Fang Hong 1 (DFH 1) on 24 April 1970. Dr Ren went on to design the Long March 3 series, along with spacecraft such as the Feng Yun weather satellite series.
Seradata salutes Ren Xinmin for his life’s work in astronautics, and we give our condolences to his family.
