Wang Xiji

Wang was born in July 1921 into a merchant family in Kunming, Yunnan, China. He is a member of the Bai ethnic minority from Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture. He graduated from the Department of Mechanical Engineering of National Southwestern Associated University in 1942, and went to the United States in 1948 to study at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, earning his master's degree in 1949. When the People's Republic of China was founded, he abandoned his doctoral studies and returned to China in 1950. == Career ==

Sounding rockets , Shanghai After returning to China, Wang taught at the Dalian Institute of Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Shanghai University of Science and Technology. The institute had very few experienced scientists. Other than Wang Xiji and his former classmate , who was the deputy director of the institute, there were only two visiting professors, Bian Yingui (卞荫贵) and Li Minhua. Working with severe shortages of technical experience, fund, and equipment, Wang's team managed to develop China's first sounding rocket, the T7-M. Space launch vehicle and recoverable satellites In the 1960s, Wang proposed the design for the Long March 1, China's first space launch vehicle, which launched China's first satellite, the Dong Fang Hong I, in 1970. == Honours and recognition ==

Wang was elected an academician of the International Academy of Astronautics He was twice conferred the Special Prize of the State Science and Technology Progress Award (in 1985 and 1990), == References ==