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A reporter from The Paper learned from relevant departments that Academician Zhou Guangzhao, former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, former president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and winner of the "Two Bombs and One Satellite Medal of Merit", died in Beijing on August 17, 2024 at the age of 95 due to illness.

After the death of Academician Zhou Guangzhao, only two of the "Two Bombs and One Satellite" heroes who were awarded the "Two Bombs and One Satellite Medal of Merit" in 1999 are still alive.

Public information shows that the "Two Bombs and One Satellite Heroes" refer to 23 national treasure-level scientists who have made outstanding contributions to China's "Two Bombs and One Satellite" cause.

"Two bombs and one satellite" is the abbreviation for nuclear bombs, missiles and artificial satellites. As a landmark event in the development of scientific and technological strength in the first few decades of the new China, "Two bombs and one satellite" is often used to refer to the achievements of China's independence, solidarity, cooperation and entrepreneurship in the fields of science and technology and military in modern times. In the 1960s and 1970s, China's achievements in missiles, artificial satellites, remote sensing and control also laid the foundation for the further development of China's aerospace in the future.

In 1999, on the occasion of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the CPC Central Committee, the State Council and the Central Military Commission decided to commend 23 scientific and technological experts who made outstanding contributions to the development of the "two bombs and one satellite" that year, and awarded the "Two Bombs and One Satellite Medal of Merit" to Yu Min, Wang Daheng, Wang Xiji, Zhu Guangya, Sun Jiadong, Ren Xinmin, Wu Ziliang, Chen Fangyun, Chen Nengkuan, Yang Jiachi, Zhou Guangzhao, Qian Xuesen, Tu Shou'e, Huang Weilu, Cheng Kaijia and Peng Huanwu, and posthumously awarded the "Two Bombs and One Satellite Medal of Merit" to Wang Ganchang, Deng Jiaxian, Zhao Jiuzhang, Yao Tongbin, Qian Ji, Qian Sanqiang and Guo Yonghuai (the above ranking is in order of the number of strokes of surnames).

After Zhou Guangzhao's death, the only two heroes of the "Two Bombs and One Satellite" still alive are Wang Xiji and Sun Jiadong.

Wang Xiji was born in 1921. He is a satellite and space technology expert and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was the chief engineer of the Shanghai Mechanical and Electrical Design Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the chief engineer of the Eighth Institute of the Seventh Ministry of Machine Building. He successfully developed a variety of practical sounding rockets in China, presided over the completion of the scheme demonstration and design of China's first satellite carrier rocket and the first recoverable remote sensing satellite, and served as the chief designer of the recoverable remote sensing satellite series.

Sun Jiadong was born in 1929. He is an expert in launch vehicle and satellite technology and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (1991). He has worked in the Fifth Academy of the Ministry of National Defense, the Seventh Ministry of Machine Building, and the Ministry of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He led the development and testing of my country's first self-designed liquid medium-range ballistic surface-to-surface missile and liquid medium-range ballistic surface-to-surface missile; he was the chief technical person in charge of the development of the first artificial satellite and won the National Highest Science and Technology Award in 2009.