- Pioneer
- NORAD 4382
- 1970-034A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Pacific Ocean
Orbit ends over the Pacific Ocean
In view from you
Nobody watches Dong Fang Hong 1 go over, but a receiver still asks whether it is above the horizon. Say where you are and this card answers.
Your position is rounded to about a kilometre and sent only to the Orbinauts API, to find the pass.
Even at its closest, Dong Fang Hong 1 is too faint to see with the naked eye from anywhere on Earth, so no city page carries pass times for it.
Seeing it
There is nothing to go outside for: it is too faint for the naked eye. It is still up there all the same, going round as it has since it was launched.
Altitude
One reading a day, worked out from the elements Space-Track publishes.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched on Long March 1 from Jiuquan. Source
- End of mission
Its mission ended.
Summary
Over Russia LIVE
Where is Dong Fang Hong 1?
At 5:11:54 AM UTC Dong Fang Hong 1 was over Russia (61.4° N, 148.3° E), 1,336 km up, moving at 7.14 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Dong Fang Hong 1?
One of the pioneers of spaceflight in low Earth orbit, in space since Apr 24, 1970; its mission ended in 1970.
Can I see Dong Fang Hong 1?
No, not with the naked eye: even at its closest, Dong Fang Hong 1 is too faint to see from anywhere on Earth; what it is now is a relic of the first years in orbit.
General
- Launched
- Ended
- Rocket
- Long March 1
- Remembered for
- Being China’s first satellite, which played the song “The East Is Red” from orbit in 1970
- Operator
- The China Academy of Space Technology, which built it; a Chinese Long March 1 rocket launched it
- Size
- a many-sided ball 1 m across
- Mass
- 173 kg
- Typical altitude
- 423 to 1,988 km
- Speed
- about 6.54 to 8.04 km/s (23,500 to 28,900 km/h)
Latest orbital data
- Position received
- 5:11 AM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 5:11 AM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 61.4° N, 148.3° E
- Altitude
- 1,336 km
- Speed
- 7.14 km/s (25,693 km/h)
- Course
- south-east
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 68.4°
- Orbital period
- 109.5 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 13.15
- This orbit
- 422 to 1,985 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,840 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 3, 2026, 9:14 PM, 7 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 3, 2026, 9:14 PM, 7 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Dong Fang Hong 1, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Dong Fang Hong 1 has been reported publicly in the past thirty days.
- Losing to drag
- Dong Fang Hong 1 is falling about 5 m a day, read from the last 49 days of samples.
From Space-Track’s public conjunction messages; the latest report was issued Nov 3, 2026, 1:53 PM, 15 hours old. Only approaches serious enough to be reported publicly are listed: within three days and, for two bodies near the Earth, closer than a kilometre with a chance of a collision above 1 in 10,000, the level at which NASA moves the ISS.
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 3, 2026, 9:14 PM, 7 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "DFH-1",
"OBJECT_ID": "1970-034A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-03T21:14:44.492352",
"MEAN_MOTION": 13.14715485,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.1031037,
"INCLINATION": 68.4256,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 136.6621,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 214.4421,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 138.549,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 4382,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 66404,
"BSTAR": 0.00018321598,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.0000128,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}