This Day, That Year

Editor's note: This year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up policy.

China Great Wall Industry Corp was established as the nation's only authorized company for international space collaboration in October 1980. In April 1990, the company sent the first United States-made communications satellite into space on a Long March 3 rocket at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province.

It was China's first commercial launch of a foreign satellite.