Organization · Čína · Founded 1993
China National Space Administration (CNSA)
The national space agency of the People’s Republic of China, associated with robotic exploration including Chang’e and international cooperation. The Shenzhou crewed programme and Tiangong station are managed by the separate China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
- Country
- Čína
- Founded
- 1993
- Hardware
- 2
Hardware
Rockets and spacecraft
TiangongFirst flight 2021China’s modular space station in low Earth orbit, assembled from the Tianhe core module and the Wentian and Mengtian laboratories.Open article →Long MarchFirst flight 1970 · Height 62 mLong March (Chinese 长征, Chang Zheng; abbreviated CZ) is a family of Chinese launch vehicles built by the CASC corporation and flown under the auspices of China's space agency CNSA. The family has flown since 1970, when the Long March 1 rocket placed China's first satellite into orbit, and has since made more than 500 launches. Its key variants include the crew-rated Long March 2F, which has carried Shenzhou crewed spacecraft since 2003; the heavy-lift Long March 5 for large probes and modules of the Tiangong space station; and the reliable Long March 3B for telecommunications satellites. Today the Long March rockets are the backbone of the Chinese space programme.Open article →
History
Key events
- Shenzhou 5Yang Liwei became the first Chinese astronaut in space aboard Shenzhou 5 — making China the third country with an independent human spaceflight capability.
- Chang'e 4The Chang'e 4 probe made the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon in history — enabled by the Queqiao relay satellite positioned beyond the Moon.
- Tianhe moduleThe launch of the Tianhe core module began the construction of China's modular Tiangong station, completed in 2022 as the second permanently inhabited station in orbit alongside the ISS.