The development of "Chang'e 1", the third milestone of China's space flight program, is going smoothly, according to sources from a symposium marking the 35th anniversary of the successful launch of "Dongfanghong 1".

At the 35th anniversary of the successful launch of China's first man-made satellite, "Dongfanghong 1", pioneers of China's space flight who participated in the research, design, manufacture and management of the satellite went to the birthplace of China's satellites, the Beijing Satellite Plant of the Chinese Research Institute of Space Technology, to attend an unveiling ceremony for a monument commemorating "Dongfanghong 1".

China has independently developed and launched more than 60 satellites and five "Shenzhou" spaceships during the past 35 years and twelve of these are still operating. China now has seven types of spacecrafts: recoverable remote satellites, communication satellites, meteorological satellites, scientific research satellites, earth resources satellites, navigation and positioning satellites and "Shenzhou" spaceships, which are operating in Geostationary Earth Orbit, medium Earth Orbit and low Earth Orbit. The recoverable remote sensing satellites, earth-synchronous communication satellites and earth resources satellites have become world-class in terms of their technical level.

(People's Daily April 23, 2005)