Shanghai Aerospace Bureau 603 Test Site

Shanghai Aerospace Bureau 603 Test Site

The Shanghai Aerospace Bureau 603 Test Site serves as a patriotic education base.

The 603 Test Site is one of China’s earliest space launch facilities and the birthplace of China’s sounding rockets. It is situated in Shijie Town, Guangde County, Anhui Province, and spans over 2,300 acres. Between 1960 and 1966, the site carried out more than 30 test launches of sounding, meteorological, and biological rockets of various types and purposes. It was the first to apply modern control technology, successfully launching China’s first liquid-fueled meteorological sounding rocket; it also successfully launched and recovered China’s first high-altitude biological test rocket; and it accomplished China’s first ionospheric detection mission. Additionally, in a successfully recovered biological rocket test, two dogs named “Xiaobao” and “Shanshan” were carried and recovered, reaching an altitude of over 100 kilometers. This marked the beginning of China’s biological test rocket program and laid a solid foundation for the country’s later recoverable satellites and manned spaceflight projects. In 2011, a monument commemorating the “Birthplace of China’s Sounding Rockets” was erected at the original launch site. The site has since been designated as a Space Spirit Education Base, Shanghai Patriotic Education Base, Anhui Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit, and a National Defense Science and Technology Industry Military Culture Education Base.

Address: Shijie Town, Guangde County, Xuancheng City, Anhui Province

Postal Code: 242220

Phone: 021-24180204;

Opening Hours: By prior appointment