China is marking its first National Day of Space Flight today. A ceremony has been held in a satellite launch center in the country's northwest.

More than one thousand scientists, soldiers and students took part in the event at Jiuquan launch center, celebrating sixty years of space exploration progress.

Sixty years ago on this day, April 24th, China launched its first man-made earth satellite, Dongfanghong-1, making China the fifth country to launch a domestically produced satellite using domestically produced rockets. China has since developed two bombs and one satellite project, mastered manned space flight, launched a lunar exploration project in its rapid growth in space technology.