Beijing museum launches outer space into cyberspace

Pang Zhihao, a researcher at the academy, who gave a guided tour at the current exhibition's opening, says it reviews "three critical moments in the country's space exploration-the development of Dongfanghong 1, the liftoff of China's first manned spacecraft, Shenzhou V, in 2003 and the landing of the Chang'e 4 lunar probe in 2019". The show has also provoked public interest in a future Mars probe.

On April 24, the China National Space Administration said the country's first Mars mission, named Tianwen 1, would take place in the months to come.

The exhibition gives a view of Dongfanghong 1 orbiting in the form of digital simulation. Viewers can also watch television interviews of scientists involved in the mission and documentary footage filmed in 1970, as well as hear Dongfanghong (The East is Red), a song popular in China hailing Mao Zedong, played by the satellite.

Technicians designed a musical device, which is also featured at the exhibition, to play the song's first eight bars, and it was decoded through the ground station, before being sent to China National Radio for broadcast, according to Pang.

Today, Dongfanghong 1 still travels in orbit.

Zhang Hongtai, president of the China Academy of Space Technology, says hopefully, the exhibition will motivate more people to engage in the country's ambitious course of space exploration.