China National Space Administration

The China National Space Administration (CNSA, 国家航天局) is the national space agency of the People's Republic of China, established in 1993 to manage China's civil space program — overseeing planetary exploration, lunar exploration, Earth observation satellites, space science missions, and international space cooperation, while operating under the broader Chinese space sector governance that also includes the People's Liberation Army's strategic space activities.

CNSA's flagship programs span multiple domains. The Chang'e lunar exploration program has achieved a remarkable succession of firsts: Chang'e 1 and 2 (lunar orbiters, 2007 and 2010), Chang'e 3 (first lunar soft landing since 1976, 2013, including Yutu rover), Chang'e 4 (first landing on the lunar far side in history, January 2019, with the Yutu-2 rover and relay satellite Queqiao), and Chang'e 5 (first sample return mission since Soviet Luna 24 in 1976, returning 1.73 kg of lunar regolith in December 2020). Chang'e 6 (2024) returned samples from the lunar far side — the first mission ever to do so — and Chang'e 7 and 8 are planned for the south polar region to prospect for water ice.

The Tianwen-1 Mars mission (2020 launch, 2021 arrival) successfully placed an orbiter, lander, and Zhurong rover on Mars — making China only the second nation (after the US) to successfully operate a rover on Mars. The mission returned substantial geological data on Martian surface materials and climate history.

The Tiangong space station, now permanently crewed with three taikonauts following core module Tianhe (2021) and expansion modules Wentian and Mengtian, represents China's third and permanent crewed space station — built entirely indigenously after China was excluded from the International Space Station due to US ITAR restrictions enacted in the NASA Authorization Act of 2011. CNSA manages Shenzhou crewed spacecraft and Tianzhou cargo resupply missions.

CNSA also manages Gaofen high-resolution Earth observation satellites (sub-meter optical, SAR), Beidou/BDS global navigation satellite system, and international cooperation programs including the China-France CFOSAT oceanography satellite and joint missions with ESA.