This Day, That Year: April 8

Editor's note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China.

China successfully sent its first satellite, Dongfanghong 1, into orbit in 1970.

On April 8, 1984, the country's first communications satellite was launched, and it sent pictures back for television viewers, as seen in an item on April 19, 1984, in China Daily.

After decades of development, the country has made remarkable achievements in the space program. In August 2016, for example, China launched the world's first quantum communications satellite. It was a major step in the country's bid to be at the forefront of quantum research, which could lead to new, totally secure methods of transmitting information.

The most advanced is Shijian 13, which was launched in April 2017. It marks the start of the country's large-capacity communications network.

China's Beidou is one of four space-based navigation networks - along with the United States' GPS, Russia's Glonass and the European Union's Galileo. It began providing positioning, navigation, timing and messaging services to civilian users in China and other parts of the Asia-Pacific region in December 2012.

To date, 33 satellites - 18 in the Beidou 3 series and 15 in Beidou 2 - are operational in several orbits. They offer a global positioning service with 10-meter accuracy and an Asia-Pacific regional service with 5-meter accuracy.

In December, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp sent up the first satellite in its ambitious Hongyun satellite constellation project, the country's first low-orbit broadband communications satellite network.

The company intends to place more than 150 Hongyun satellites into orbit by around 2023.

Upon its completion, the constellation will provide phone services and broadband internet access to users anywhere on the globe.