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Founder of Chinese space industry Ren Xinmin dies at 102
2017-02-13 18:10:37
Ren Xinmin, a well-known expert on missile and rocket technologies, chief designer of China's first manmade satellite and also one of the founders of China's space industry, has died.
He was 102.
Ren was born in Ningguo, east China's Anhui province in 1915. He graduated from a military university in Chongqing in 1940. He then went to study at the University of Michigan in America and got a master's degree for mechanical engineering and a doctorate for engineering mechanics in 1945.
He returned to China in 1949 despite receiving an offer to teach at the University at Buffalo. Starting from 1956, Ren worked as a key technical engineer and helped China develop its first missile, Dongfeng-1 in 1960 and also its first man-made satellite Dongfanghong-1 in 1970. Ren then worked as chief designer of 6 major space projects in China including an experimental communications satellite, practical satellite communications and meteorological satellite Fengyun-1.
In 1980, Ren was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). In 1999, Ren was granted the Two Bombs and One Satellite Merit Medal.
After Ren retired, he still paid close attention to the development of China's space industry. In 2003, at the age of 88, Ren witnessed the process of China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei, being sent into space by a Shenzhou-5 spaceship at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre. He also wrote a calligraphy work to celebrate the successful launch of China's carrier rocket Changzheng-5 on November 3, 2016.
http://english.cri.cn/mmsource/images/2017/02/13/845c6d6d71684bb1a65e47ea7422611b.jpg
http://english.cri.cn/12394/2017/02/13/3821s951761.htm
http://english.cri.cn/12394/2017/02/13/3821s951761.htm
Ren Xinmin - Wikipedia
After the Second World War, Ren read a book authored by Qian Xuesen that roused his interest in rocket science. When he returned China in 1949, he arrived in Nanjing and was offered a research fellowship, serving the military until leave 1952, when he left for Harbin. In those three years, Ren and his colleagues attempted to launch a tiny rocket, though experimentation was never completed.[4]
Despite Ren's specialisation in mechanical engineering, he was appointed as the director of rocket teaching and research section to teach solid-propellant rocket course at Military Engineering Academy.
Then Ren was recruited by the Fifth Academy of the Ministry of Defence in 1956. His first task was incorporating the design and technology to replicate the P-2 rocket with the assistance of Soviet experts. Then the Dongfeng 1 with limited maximum range was launched smoothly in 1960, thus he was appointed as the chief designer of the Dongfeng 2 to strive for its medium-range in the next year.
Ren served as Vice Minister of the Seventh Ministry of Machine-Building since 1975. During his term of appointment, the 311 Project about communication satellite was implemented and succeeded.
Ren's insistence on applying LOX/LH2 rocket engine led to the success of Long March 3 in 1984, even though he had suffered numerous failures and the opposition followed. He also was a dedicated promoter of Chinese manned spaceflight and space station project since the 1980s.
