Man-made earth satellites. From the launch of its first man-made earth satellite "Dongfanghong No.1" in April 1970 to the end of 2000, China successfully launched 75 satellites, including 48 developed by China itself and 27 commercial satellites for foreign customers. Fifteen types of satellites have been launched in the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005), including communications, navigation, meteorological, resource remote-sensing, and space survey satellites, representing about half of all satellites launched in the past 30 years.
Carrier rockets. China has developed 12 models of the "Long March" carrier rockets series, and is able to launch low earth orbit, geostationary orbit, and sun-synchronous orbit satellites and spaceships. The successful launch rate is over 90 percent. By the end of 2005, "Long March" carrier rockets had made 88 launches; since October 1996, they have had 46 successful launches on the run. China's exclusively home-developed Jiuquan, Xichang and Taiyuan satellite-launch centers are internationally recognized today.
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