China National Space Administration

"CNSA Insignia"

Long March 3

Long March 8

Long March 4B, 4C

Long March 5, 5B

Long March 6, 6A

Long March 7, 7A

Long March 8M, 8R

Long March 10, 10A

Long March 11

The China National Space Administration is the official government space agency of the People's Republic of China, founded in 1993, the CNSA has made many great accomplishments since its debut, including building a space station called Tiangong, being the first country to land a rover on the far side of the Moon, being the second country to land a rover on Mars, and recently, becoming the second country to put a human on the Moon.

### History

#### 1993-1999

The earlier age of this new space agency was quiet and kind of small, nothing major was done outside of orbital survey/communications satellites, however, in 1995, during the launch of Apstar 2, the rocket quickly turned out of control and crashed into a nearby village, killing around 5 civilians and injuring as many as 100 more. However, on some better news, a maiden flight test for the future Shenzhou crewed spacecraft was launched in November 1999.

#### 2000-2004

The early 2000s was a bit of a break from the disasters of the 90s, especially with the first crewed spaceflight mission, Shenzhou 5, in October 2003, proving that China had a chance as a space nation.

#### 2005-2009

This timeframe saw a slow, but steady evolution for China's human spaceflight program. Shenzhou 6, which launched on October 2005, lasted for nearly 5 days, and Shenzhou 7, which launched on September 2008, had the first EVA in Chinese human spaceflight. Human spaceflight wasn't the only sector where China made progress, this timeframe also saw the launch of Chang'e 1, the first Chinese spacecraft to orbit another celestial body, the Moon.

#### 2010-2014

As China's space program continued to grow, so did the achievements, including China's first space station, Tiangong-1, which launched in September 2011, their first Lunar rover, Chang'e 3, in December 2013, and the Shenzhou 8 and 9 missions, launched on October 11 and June 2012 which both docked with Tiangong-1, allowing for stays lasting around 2 weeks. China's first attempt to send a spacecraft to another planet, Yinghuo-1, failed to leave LEO (was supposed to be deployed by the Russian Fobos-Grunt).

#### 2015-2019

China's second Lunar rover mission, and the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon (by any country) launched in December 2018. They also launched their second space station (Tiangong-2) in September 2016, along with the maiden test of their cargo spacecraft, and Shenzhou 11 on October 2016.

#### 2020-2024

Chang'e 5 became the first Lunar sample return mission by CNSA, launched in November 2020. On April 2021, CNSA launched the first module of the new Tiangong Space Station (Tianhe), a multi-modular space station for long-term crewed spaceflight, the next modules were Wentian, in July 2022, and Mengtian in October 2022. The first expedition to Tiangong was Shenzhou 12 on June 2021, followed by 8 more expedition during this timeframe. Tianwen-1 landed on Mars in May 2021, deploying Zhurong, the first Chinese rover to land on another planet, Zhurong had operated for about a year before it entered a hibernation period, but did not wake up.

#### 2025-2029

During this time, CNSA began the expansion of the Tiangong space station, with the launch of Xuntian in February 2025, Wungtian in June 2028, and Zhutian in October 2029. The new crewed spacecraft, Xiayidai, became operational, replacing the earlier Shenzhou, Xiayidai's first crewed flight was in May 2026. CNSA also launched the VOICE mission, their first spacecraft to reach Venus, which launched in February 2027. During this time, Chang'e 7 launched, which sent a small probe that hopped around different areas of the Lunar south pole.

#### 2030-present

In September 2030, Miatian launched, completing the expansion of Tiangong, in September 2031, the final flight of the Shenzhou spacecraft ended, retiring the spacecraft and replacing it with the new Xiayidai. In December 2030, Tianwen-4 launched, which will be China's first mission to the outer solar system. In November 2031, CNSA landed their first Taikonauts on the Lunar surface as part of the Yueliang 2 mission, making China the second country to launch a manned mission to the Lunar surface, with the first being the United States.