This Day, That Year

Item from Jan 12, 1982, in China Daily: As the United States has its Cape Canaveral and the Soviet Union has its Baikonur Cosmodrome, China has its Jiuquan - another window to outer space ... This green city in the desert is where the Chinese satellites are sent into space ... construction of the site began in the late 1950s. Jiuquan is now the launch complex of China containing technical testing, launch, remote monitoring, optical and radar-monitoring centers.

Jiuquan has launched several firsts in the development of China's aerospace industry. These include: the nation's first artificial satellite on April 21, 1970; the first returning-type artificial satellite on Dec 26, 1975; the first long-range carrier rocket over the Pacific Ocean on May 18, 1980. It also hosted an unprecedented three satellites rocketing to space on Sept 20, 1981.

From 2003, Jiuquan has handled many manned space missions. The complex is the only one in the country that hosts manned spacecraft. Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei, above, was the first to complete a manned spacecraft mission in 2003.