march in 1967 in the cold western desert seeking a downed test rocket as one anecdote from his long career. Ren served as Vice Minister of the Seventh Ministry of Machine Building from 1975 until 1982, when he was moved to the Ministry of Aerospace Industry. There, the 331 Project, to build and launch a communication satellite, was successfully implemented. Ren was in charge of its five sections as chief engineer and was nicknamed the "Chief Chief Engineer (总总师)". Ren's insistence on applying LOX/LH2 rocket engines led to the success of the Long March 3 in 1984, even though he had suffered numerous failures, and then faced the resulting backlash. He had also been a dedicated promoter of China's manned spaceflight and space station projects since the 1980s. Personal life Ren married Yu Shuangqin (), the daughter of a Nationalist government official, in 1944. Ren died on 12 February 2017, in Beijing, aged 101 (102 in East Asian age reckoning). His wife and children survived him. References 1915 births 2017 deaths Chinese aerospace engineers Chinese centenarians Engineers from Anhui Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Men centenarians People from Xuancheng Scientists from Anhui Southeast University alumni University of Michigan alumni