Ren Xinmin (; 5 December 1915 – 12 February 2017) was a Chinese aerospace engineer and a specialist in astronautics and liquid rocket engine technology. He was the technical director of the

Long March 1 The Long March 1 (长征一号), also known as the Changzheng-1 (CZ-1), was the first member of China's Long March 1 (rocket family), Long March rocket family. Like the U.S.'s and the Soviet Union's first rockets, it was based on a class of ba ...

rocket, which launched the

Dong Fang Hong I ''Dong Fang Hong 1'' (), in the western world also known as China 1 or PRC 1, was the first space satellite of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC), launched successfully on 24 April 1970 as part of the PRC's Dongfanghong program, Dong ...

, China's first satellite, and the chief designer of Chinese storable propellant rocket engine. He was also the chief designer for the

Long March 3 The Long March 3 (), also known as the Changzheng 3, CZ-3 and LM-3, was a Chinese orbital carrier rocket design. They were all launched from Launch Area 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. It was a three-stage rocket, and was mostly used ...

launch vehicle, Fengyun, and SJ (

Shijian Shijian (, Abbreviation, abbr. "SJ") is a series of satellites built and operated by the China, People's Republic of China. Some Shijian-series satellites have drawn significant concerns from the United States government and space observers who ...

) series satellites. Together with Huang Weilu, Tu Shou'e, and Liang Shoupan, Ren was considered one of the "Four Elders of China's Aerospace", only surpassed by

Qian Xuesen Qian Xuesen ( zh, s=钱学森; December 11, 1911October 31, 2009; also spelled as Tsien Hsue-shen) was a Chinese aerospace engineer and cyberneticist who made significant contributions to the field of aerodynamics and established engineering ...

, the founder of China's aerospace industry. He was awarded the

Two Bombs, One Satellite Two Bombs, One Satellite ( zh, s=两弹一星, p=liǎng dàn, yī xīng) was a nuclear weapon, intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), and artificial satellite development program by the People's Republic of China. China detonated its first f ...

Merit Medal in 1999. Ren was elected a member of the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...

in 1980.

Early life and education

Ren Xinmin was born on 5 December 1915, in

Ningguo Ningguo () is a county-level city in the southeast of Anhui province, People's Republic of China, under the administration of Xuancheng City and bordering Zhejiang province to the south and east. It has a population of 380,000 and an area of . N ...

Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...

Province. When he was a middle school student, he joined the

Communist Youth League The Communist Youth League of China (CYLC; also known as the Young Communist League of China or simply the Communist Youth League or CYL) is a people's organization of the People's Republic of China for youth between the ages of 14 and 28, r ...

. He studied

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

at the

National Central University National Central University (; abbreviated NCU; ) is a public research university based in Taiwan. It was founded in 1902 in Nanjing; initially located in Miaoli after moving to Taiwan, it relocated to Zhongli in 1962 and developed into a com ...

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

. After the outbreak of the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

in 1937, he took refuge in

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

where he studied gun design at the National Institute of Technology, Ministry of Military Administration. He worked at an armoury after graduation in 1940. Ren attended the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

in 1945, where he obtained his MS and PhD.

Career

After the Second World War, Ren read a book authored by Qian that roused his interest in rocket science. When he returned to China in 1949, he arrived in Nanjing and was offered a research fellowship until 1952, when he left for

Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...

. In those three years, Ren and his colleagues attempted to launch a tiny rocket, though experimentation was never completed. Despite Ren's specialisation in mechanical engineering, he was appointed as the director of rocket teaching and research section to teach the solid-propellant rocket course at the Institute of Military Engineering. Ren was then recruited by the Fifth Academy of the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

in 1956. His first task was incorporating the design and technology to replicate the

R-2 rocket The R-2 (NATO reporting name SS-2 Sibling) was a Soviet Union, Soviet short-range ballistic missile developed from and having twice the range as the R-1 (missile), R-1 missile (itself a copy of the German V-2). Developed from 1946-1951, the R-2 e ...

with the assistance of

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

experts. Dongfeng 1, a licensed version of the R-2 with limited maximum range, was launched smoothly in 1960. Ren was appointed as the chief designer and helped develop the Dongfeng 2, a medium-range rocket, in 1961. A colleague recalled, in a 2014 documentary, Ren leading a successful five-day march in 1967 in the cold western desert seeking a downed test rocket as one anecdote from his long career.Ives, Mike
'Ren Xinmin, Pioneering Chinese Satellite Designer, Dies at 101"
''New York Times'', 16 February 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2017. Ren served as Vice Minister of the Seventh Ministry of Machine Building from 1975 until 1982, when he was moved to the Ministry of Aerospace Industry. There, the 331 Project, to build and launch a communication satellite, was successfully implemented. Ren was in charge of its five sections as chief engineer and was nicknamed the "Chief Chief Engineer (总总师)". Ren's insistence on applying LO_X/LH₂ rocket engines led to the success of the Long March 3 in 1984, even though he had suffered numerous failures, and then faced the resulting backlash. He had also been a dedicated promoter of China's crewed spaceflight and space station projects since the 1980s.

Personal life

Ren married Yu Shuangqin (), the daughter of a

Nationalist government The Nationalist government, officially the National Government of the Republic of China, refers to the government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China from 1 July 1925 to 20 May 1948, led by the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT ...

official, in 1944. Ren died on 12 February 2017, in Beijing, aged 101 (102 in

East Asian age reckoning Traditional East Asian age reckoning covers a group of related methods for reckoning human ages practiced in the East Asian cultural sphere, where age is the number of calendar years in which a person has been alive; it starts at 1 at birth and i ...

). His wife and children survived him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ren, Ximmin 1915 births 2017 deaths Chinese aerospace engineers Chinese men centenarians Engineers from Anhui Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences People from Ningguo Scientists from Anhui Southeast University alumni University of Michigan alumni