Space Technology

Born in the early 1970s as a spinoff of the country’s missile programme, China’s space programme has expanded rapidly over the past two decades in terms of both scope and capability. In 2003, China became the third country in the world to have sent human into space independently. The country’s space launch capability has been significantly improved with the introduction of a whole new family of launch vehicles, launch centre, and spacecraft fabrication facilities over the past five years. A range of ambitious space projects are currently underway, including the launch of robotic probes to the Moon and Mars, the building of a permanently-occupied space station on Low Earth Orbit, the construction of a global navigation satellite system, and potentially a crewed mission to land on the Moon.

Human Spaceflight



Space Centres