China Manned Space Program

China Manned Space Program

中国载人航天工程 Zhōngguó Zàirén Hángtiān Gōngchéng
Logo of CMS in the shape of a space station, or the Chinese character "中" as in "中国" (China).
Program overview
Country	China
Organization	China Manned Space Agency
Purpose	Human spaceflight
Status	Active
Program history
Duration	21 September 1992–present
First flight	Shenzhou 1 19 November 1999; 24 years ago (1999-11-19)
First crewed flight	Shenzhou 5 15 October 2003; 21 years ago (2003-10-15)
Last flight	Tianzhou 8 15 November 2024; 2 days ago (2024-11-15)
Successes	31
Failures	0
Launch site(s)	Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center Wenchang Space Launch Site
Vehicle information
Uncrewed vehicle(s)	Tianzhou cargo spacecraft
Crewed vehicle(s)	Shenzhou spacecraft
Crew capacity	3
Launch vehicle(s)	Long March 2F Long March 7 Long March 5B

The China Manned Space Program (CMS; Chinese: 中国载人航天工程; pinyin: Zhōngguó Zàirén Hángtiān Gōngchéng), also known as Project 921 (Chinese: 九二一工程; pinyin: Jiǔèryī Gōngchéng) is a space program developed by the People's Republic of China and run by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) under the Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission, designed to develop and enhance human spaceflight capabilities for China. It was approved on 21 September 1992 and has been in operation ever since. The CMS commander and director are currently Xu Xueqiang and Zhou Jianping respectively; the latter has held this position since 2006, after taking over from Wang Yongzhi, who served as the first director from 1992 to 2006.

As one of the most complex programs within the Chinese space agency, CMS was split into "three steps", or three phases, which can be summarized as follows:^[1]

1. Crewed spacecraft launch and return.
2. Space laboratory (with capabilities of extravehicular activities), spacecraft rendezvous and docking procedures.
3. Long-term modular space station.

On 29 November 2022, with the launch and docking of Shenzhou 15 with the Tiangong space station, the CMSA successfully completed all three of the above steps, thereby making China the third nation to achieve human spaceflight (after the Soviet Union/Russia and the United States), as well as the second nation to operate a single-nation modular space station (after the Soviet Union/Russia's Mir).