By the time the US launched it's first rocket,there was only one precedent(Germany),by the time the US launched it's first satellite,there was also only one precedent(Soviet)
Where as by the China launched it's first rocket/satellite/manned mission,there were two precedents have all of it(US,Russia),so china only need to choose one of those countries
en.wikipedia.org
Robert Hutchings Goddard (October 5, 1882 – August 10, 1945)
[1] was an American
engineer,
professor,
physicist, and
inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first
liquid-fueled rocket.
[2] Goddard successfully launched his rocket on March 16, 1926, which ushered in an era of space flight and innovation. He and his team launched 34 rockets
[3] between 1926 and 1941, achieving altitudes as high as 2.6 km (1.6 mi) and speeds as fast as 885 km/h (550 mph).
[3]
en.wikipedia.org
Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun (23 March 1912 – 16 June 1977) was a German-American
aerospace engineer[3] and
space architect. He was a member of the
Nazi Party and
Allgemeine SS, as well as the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in
Nazi Germany and a pioneer of rocket and space technology in the United States.
[4]
As a young man, von Braun worked in Nazi Germany's rocket development program. He helped design and co-developed the
V-2 rocket at
Peenemünde during
World War II. Following the war, he was secretly moved to the United States, along with about 1,600 other German scientists, engineers, and technicians, as part of
Operation Paperclip.
[5] He worked for the
United States Army on an
intermediate-range ballistic missile program, and he developed the rockets that launched the United States' first space satellite
Explorer 1 in 1958. He worked with
Walt Disney on a series of films, which popularized the idea of human space travel in the US and beyond between 1955 and 1957.
[6]
In 1960, his group was assimilated into
NASA, where he served as director of the newly formed
Marshall Space Flight Center and as the chief architect of the
Saturn V super heavy-lift launch vehicle that propelled the
Apollo spacecraft to the Moon.
[7][8] In 1967, von Braun was inducted into the
National Academy of Engineering, and in 1975, he received the
National Medal of Science.
“It is difficult to say what is impossible for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow.” - Robert H. Goddard. Robert H. Goddard (1882-1945) is recognized as the father of American rocketry and one of the pioneers in the theoretical exploration of space.
roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov
On Aug. 10, 1945, Goddard died, and he was never able to see his dreams of his rockets reaching into space come true. Regarded as one of the great pioneers of rocketry, Goddard’s research established the groundwork for American rocketry. Speaking in 1963, Wernher von Braun, developer of many American rockets — including the Saturn V that took astronauts to the Moon — reflected on Goddard’s contribution to the space program.
"His rockets ... may have been rather crude by present-day standards, but they blazed the trail and incorporated many features used in our most modern rockets and space vehicles," von Braun said.