In 2016, China designated April 24 as its Space Day to mark the 46th anniversary of the launch of its first satellite "Dongfanghong-1" into space on April 24, 1970. This year's Space Day also marks 30 years since the establishment of the National Space Administration of China.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the nation's aerospace industry has shown great confidence and progress in its path, including China's manned space program, China's Lunar Exploration Project (CLEP) and Mars Exploration Project. Have a look at the "Chart of the Day" for these significant achievements in detail.

Manned space program

From 2012 to 2022, China launched seven Shenzhou crewed spacecrafts (Shenzhou-9 to Shenzhou-15). The time it takes for China's manned space program to dock in space has been shortened from 44 hours to just seven hours. The flight duration has also achieved significant progress, increasing from 12 days to 183 days.

The year 2022 marked the successful completion of the China Space Station construction and the 30th anniversary of the initiation and implementation of China's manned space program.

Over the past 10 years, China has independently completed the entire process of designing, manufacturing and testing the China Space Station, Tiangong.

"China plans to build the space station into a state-level space lab supporting long astronaut stays and large-scale scientific, technological, and application experiments," said Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China's manned space program.

Deep space exploration

On the other hand, China's Lunar Exploration Project (CLEP) and Mars Exploration Project also made great progress. From 2012 to 2022, the second and third phases of the CLEP were completed successfully. Chang'e-4 became the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the far side of the Moon. The Chang'e-5, launched in 2020, was China's most recent lunar mission. Its probe retrieved a total of 1,731 grams of soil samples from the near side of the Moon. 

For China's exploration of Mars, the Tianwen-1 spacecraft set down on Mars with the Zhurong rover, completing China's first landing on another planet. The orbiter and rover of China's Tianwen-1 probe have both completed the targeted scientific exploration missions, announced the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on June 29, 2022.

There will be more exciting news from space in the following years. Stay tuned for more about China's aerospace industry.

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