List of Chinese astronauts

This is a list of Chinese astronauts, sometimes called taikonauts. The list includes people trained by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft.

Chinese taikonauts on a 2010 Somalia stamp

As the Chinese space program developed during the sixties, various proposals for crewed spacecraft were made. The first crewed spacecraft proposed by the People's Republic of China during the late 1960s and early 1970s was the Shuguang One which was expected to bring the first Chinese astronaut in 1973 into space.[1] For this programme 19 astronauts were selected in 1971.[1] However, shortly after these plans were made, several leading scientists attached to the project were denounced during the Cultural Revolution, bringing progress to a standstill.[1] Instead, NASA astronaut Taylor Wang, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China, became the first ethnically Chinese person in space in 1985.

The People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps was established in 1998 for the selection of Shenzhou program astronauts.[2] In 2003, Yang Liwei was launched aboard Shenzhou 5, becoming the first person sent into space by the Chinese space program.[3] This achievement made China the third country to independently send humans into space. During the Shenzhou 7 mission in 2008, Zhai Zhigang became the first Chinese citizen to carry out a spacewalk.[4] In 2012, Liu Yang became the first Chinese woman to be launched into space aboard Shenzhou 9 and also the first aboard a space station Tiangong-1.[5] In 2021, Wang Yaping became the first Chinese woman to walk in space during the Shenzhou 13 mission.[6]

As of October 2023, twenty Chinese nationals have traveled in space.