On the afternoon of October 11, alumnus Li Dong, the chief designer of the Long March 5 family, was invited to Beihang Grand Lecture and gave a lecture entitled “Long March 5 Rocket and the Development of China’s Aerospace”. The lecture was presided over by Liu Kesheng, Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Future Aerospace Technology / ShenYuan Honors College.

Li Dong interpreted the development of carrier rockets and aerospace technology from five perspectives, including space and launch vehicles, key technology and engineering challenges, technological breakthroughs and innovations of the Long March 5, China’s aerospace achievements and limitations, and also the future of China’s space transportation system.

In particular, he emphatically explained the ten major technical problems and the five major technological breakthroughs with humorous and vivid language to make the profound and complicated content easy to understand. “China’s aerospace stage is as big as the carrying capacity of its rockets,” said Li Dong. The future of China’saerospace, its burden and responsibility are falling on the contemporary youth.

After the lecture, Beihang Vice President Huang Haijun awarded the honorary certificate of “Beihang Grand Lecture” to Li Dong.

Li Dong, an alumnus of the class of 1985 at Beihang University, and the chief designer of the Long March 5 Series Launch Vehicles, has long been committed to the research and engineering practice of carrier rocket technology and made significant contributions in the field of China’s new generation of launch vehicles. He has successively won many honorary titles such as “Young and Middle-aged Experts with Outstanding Contribution” of the National Talent Project, the 14th Aerospace Laureate Awards, and the 2020 “Most Beautiful Scientific and Technological Worker”.

Reported by Yin Sumin

Photographed by Song Chao

Reviewed by Liu Kesheng

Edited by Jia Aiping

Translated by Zang Mingming