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Wang Xiji (王希季), one of the defining engineers of China’s early space program, has died, according to a statement from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). An academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wang held the national “Two Bombs and One Satellite Merit Medal” (两弹一星功勋奖章), the honor with which China recognized the outstanding scientists behind its early nuclear weapons, rocketry and satellite programs.
Wang belonged to the generation of engineers who laid the foundations of Chinese launch vehicle and satellite technology in the 1960s and 1970s. He played a key role in the early development of the launch vehicle family and in the conceptual design of early Chinese satellite missions — at a time when China had to build these technologies entirely on its own, without external assistance.
His contribution went beyond the purely technical. As a representative of the first generation of Chinese spaceflight pioneers, who built the program under conditions of national self-reliance, Wang stands symbolically for the era in which China established its space capabilities as a matter of national prestige and strategic strength. In its statement, CASC honored him as one of the trailblazers of Chinese spaceflight. His exact age was not immediately given in the announcement, but reports indicate he was over one hundred years old.