On this day of that year, Taiwei was unveiled along with the first flight of Fengyun...

On September 7, 1988, China's first meteorological satellite " Fengyun-1 " was magnificently launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center.

With the launch of the "Glory Star" which took 10 years to develop and carries the mission of opening up a new era of aerospace meteorology in my country, the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center has truly stepped out from behind the scenes and onto the stage.

▲On September 7, 1988, Fengyun-1A was launched into space from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center.

On September 8 of that year, the People's Daily published a graphic news article on the front page, with a caption below the picture:

On September 7, 1988, China used the Long March 4 rocket to successfully launch an experimental meteorological satellite, Fengyun-1, from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. This was the first polar orbit meteorological satellite independently developed and launched by China.

▲On September 8, 1988, the People's Daily reported on its front page that my country had successfully launched a meteorological satellite for the first time and sent back the first cloud map photo.

Enabled, successful, the first... what exciting words!

What makes the aerospace workers in Northwest Shanxi even more excited is that the place where they work hard is also open to the public for the first time under the name "Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center."

At this time, they had been working silently in this high-altitude and cold area in northwestern Shanxi for more than 20 years.

In 1967, more than 1,100 entrepreneurs, shouldering the heavy responsibility of "raising the morale of the Chinese people and supporting the national defense science and technology cause", set out from Jiuquan, the birthplace of the "two bombs and one satellite", and traveled thousands of miles to the northwestern plateau of Shanxi, beginning the arduous journey of creating my country's first independently designed launch site.

▲The hard work of the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center "The sky is the tent and the ground is the bed. We set up camp in the mountain valley, three stones to support the pot, and potatoes and cabbage as dry food."

In that difficult era, the entrepreneurs lived in cellars, slept in cow sheds, drank pit water, and ate steamed corn bread dipped in salt water. Relying on their flesh and blood and strong will, they started from scratch and brought China's first generation of independently designed and developed liquid carrier rockets to the Loess Plateau in just one year.

December 18, 1968, in the mountains, minus 36 degrees Celsius

Entrepreneurs, your blood is boiling!

ignition!

success!

In the following 20 years, the project was ignited again and again, with each success.

Corresponding to this was mystery and silence again and again, until September 7, 1988.

Penetrate the peaks and see with your eyes open.

The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center is moving faster and faster on its journey into space, and the satellites it continuously launches have beautified the night sky of the northwestern Shanxi Plateau time and time again.

On September 3, 1990, the Fengyun-1B experimental meteorological satellite and three other satellites were successfully launched.

On December 8, 1997, the first successful launch of two Iridium satellites made by Motorola in the United States was carried out in the "two-satellite-in-one-rocket" mode. After that, 12 Iridium satellites were successfully sent into space in the "two-satellite-in-one-rocket" mode for five consecutive times.

On October 14, 1999, the China-Pakistan Earth Resources Satellite No. 1 and the Science Application Satellite No. 1 were successfully launched.

…

In 2008, the newly built rocket launch site of Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center was put into use, greatly enhancing the space launch capability.

They have also successfully launched a series of scientific application satellites such as "Ocean", "Resources", "Practice", "Innovation" and "Pioneering" with independent intellectual property rights, which have effectively helped my country stride forward from a space power to a space power.

In recent years, they have focused on the needs of China's space development, aimed at building a world-class space launch site, actively promoted independent innovation, scientifically transformed facilities and equipment, optimized and improved information platforms, vigorously implemented talent planning, and continuously refreshed China's heights in entering space.

On September 20, 2015, my country successfully launched its new generation of small liquid-fuel carrier rocket Long March 6 with 20 satellites launched on one rocket, setting a new record for my country's launch of multiple satellites on one rocket...

On July 31, 2018, the Gaofen-11 satellite was successfully launched...

Behind China's repeated breakthroughs in its march into space, shines the light of sacrifice and dedication of the people of northwestern Shanxi.

Not far from the Central Merit Tower is a martyrs' cemetery where dozens of space heroes are buried.

The touching story of the "First Spring" and the three generations of Lu Kecai, Lu Yuchuan and Lu Zhenhua's family who continued to struggle and make contributions to aerospace has been circulating in the center.

▲The "First Spring" of Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center

Only innovators can advance, only innovators can become strong, and only innovators can win.

The medals and certificates in the history exhibition hall record the glory of the aerospace workers in Northwest Shanxi in their journey of innovation. More than 1,000 innovative achievements are the best interpretation of their innovative spirit.

With the information transformation of the launch site, the center has successively applied hundreds of scientific and technological innovation achievements.

More than 4,000 positions and tens of thousands of equipment in the launch tower and technical support system have all been digitized, realizing "networking of data and information, visualization of command and monitoring, broadband information transmission, and intelligent test decision-making."

In order to build short-cycle launch capabilities, the center innovatively adopted methods such as combining parallel and serial methods, and coordinating measurement and control with product testing to optimize the test process. Dozens of innovative achievements from organizational models to key technologies have supported the Shenjian Sky Tour.

From the first meteorological satellite "Fengyun-1" to the first solar exploration technology experimental satellite, the 55-year journey is not only a history of hard work and entrepreneurship, but also a history of vigorous and enterprising innovation.

With the goal of building a world-class space launch site, the center's scientific and technological personnel have vigorously strengthened capacity building centered on launch conditions, science and technology, talent team, and test quality. They have carried out extensive aerospace technology research and experiments, breaking through a series of major technical difficulties in space launches and scientific research experiments, and achieved more than a thousand scientific and technological innovation results.

At present, it has the ability to use multiple modes to launch multiple types and multiple-directional rocket satellites. The comprehensive launch capability has achieved a leap from performing a few launch missions per year to performing more than 30 high-density rocket satellite launch missions per year.

Over the past 55 years, the people of Taiwei in Northwest Shanxi have kept in mind President Xi's earnest instructions to "build a space power", and have been forging ahead in the journey of constantly refreshing China's height in space by leading innovation with development, demand, mission and problems. (Our Space)