The Shenzhou-12 spacecraft is launched from the Jiuquan satellite launch center on June 17, 2021 in Jiuquan, Gansu Province of China, with the Long March-2F rocket, to the Chinese space station Tiangong.
July 19, 1964: China took its first official step into space, launching and retrieving an experimental biological rocket carrying white mice.
April 24, 1970: The first Chinese satellite, Dong Fang Hong 1, was launched from the Jiuquan launch center in northwestern Gansu Province. This made China the fifth country to send satellites into orbit, after the Soviet Union, the United States, France and Japan.
November 26, 1975: China launched its first recoverable satellite.
November 20, 1999: China launched its first unmanned spacecraft, the Shenzhou-1.
October 15, 2003: China became the third country after the United States and Russia to send a man into space with his own rocket. Astronaut Yang Liwei spent about 21 hours in space aboard the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft.
October 12, 2005: China sent two men on a five-day flight to its Shenzhou-6 spacecraft.
November 5, 2007: China’s first lunar orbiter, Chang’e-1, entered the moon’s orbit 12 days after takeoff.
September 25, 2008: China’s third manned spacecraft, Shenzhou-7, was launched into space, where an astronaut left the spacecraft to make the nation’s first spacecraft.
October 1, 2010: China’s second lunar exploration probe exploded from a remote corner of southwestern Sichuan Province.
September 29, 2011: Tiangong-1, or “Heavenly Palace 1”, China’s first space laboratory, was launched to conduct coupling and orbit experiments.
November 3, 2011: China conducted its first docking exercise between two unmanned spacecraft, the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft and the Tiangong-1 module, a key test to ensure a long-term manned presence in space.
December 14, 2013: China landed an unmanned spacecraft on the moon in the first “soft landing” since 1976, joining the United States and the former Soviet Union to achieve the feat.
September 15, 2016: China launched its second experimental space laboratory, the Tiangong-2, which is part of a broader plan to have a permanent manned space station in service by 2022.
January 3, 2019: The Chang’e-4 lunar probe, launched in December, touched the end of the moon. Previous spacecraft have flown over the farthest side, but have not landed toward it.
June 23, 2020: China launched its latest Beidou satellite into orbit, completing a years-long navigation network and setting the stage to challenge the U.S.-owned Global Positioning System (GPS).
July 23, 2020: China launched an unmanned spacecraft to Mars on its first independent mission to another planet.
November 24, 2020: China launched an unmanned mission, the Chang’e-5, with the goal of collecting lunar material to help scientists learn more about the moon’s origins.
December 1, 2020: China landed the Chang’e-5 spacecraft on the moon’s surface.
April 29, 2021: China launched Tianhe, the first and largest of the three modules at its next space station.
May 15, 2021: China became the second country after the United States to land a robotic robot on the surface of Mars.
June 17, 2021: China launches manned Shenzhou-12 spacecraft to dock with Tianhe.