This 1948 photo shows Qian Xuesen,  a rocket scientist known as the father of China's space technology. Xuesen, died Saturday Oct. 31, 2009 in Beijing, the official Xinhua News Agency said. He was 98. Qian was born in Hangzhou and studied in the United States at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later at the California Institute of Technology, where he helped start the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. AP Photo logo AP Photo 27 months ago

This 1948 photo shows Qian Xuesen, a rocket scientist known as the father of China's space technology. Xuesen, died Saturday Oct. 31, 2009 in Beijing, the official Xinhua News Agency said. He was 98. Qian was born in Hangzhou and studied in the United States at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later at the California Institute of Technology, where he helped start the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.