Aerospace projects in China

The series of Shenzhou spacecrafts, from Shenzhou 1 to Shenzhou 11, are spacecrafts developed and operated by China to support its manned spaceflight program.

Shenzhou, literally meaning "magic boat", has been named with people's best wishes for the carrier in the space.

Shenzhou 1-4 are unmanned experimental spacecrafts for carrying astronauts.

Yang Liwei greets the world from the Shenzhou-V spaceship after he completed China's first manned space mission on Oct 16, 2003. Yang spent 21 hours in space, traveling more than 600,000 kilometres. He became the 241st human being in space. [Xu Jingxing / China Daily]

Read more for: Timeline of China's manned space program

On Oct 16, 2003, China's first manned space mission was launched with Shenzhou 5 carrying Yang Liwei. China became the third country ever to launch a human into space.

Yang spent 21 hours in space, traveling more than 600,000 kilometers. He became the 241st human, but the first Chinese visitor in the space. He returned safely to the earth.