List of Chinese astronauts

This is a list of Chinese astronauts. Although they are sometimes referred to as taikonauts in the media, this term is not officially used in China. The official designation in English is simply astronauts. The list includes individuals trained by the China National Space Administration to command, pilot, or serve as crew members aboard spacecraft.
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. For this programme 19 astronauts were selected in 1971. However, shortly after these plans were made, several leading scientists attached to the project were denounced, bringing progress to a standstill. 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. In 2003, Yang Liwei was launched aboard Shenzhou 5, becoming the first person sent into space by the Chinese space program. 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. 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. In 2021, Wang Yaping became the first Chinese woman to walk in space during the Shenzhou 13 mission. In 2023, Gui Haichao became the first civilian astronaut not enlisted in the People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps and is the first mission payload specialist. In 2024, Wang Haoze became the third Chinese woman to travel to space on the Shenzhou 19 mission and is the only female spaceflight engineer.
, twenty-eight Chinese nationals have traveled in space.

Astronauts

Flown

Name	Name in Chinese	Photograph	Mission	Time in space	Notes
Yang Liwei	杨利伟		Shenzhou 5	21 h 22 m	First Chinese national in space. First solo person in space who was not flown on a Soviet/Russian or American spacecraft.
Fei Junlong	费俊龙		Shenzhou 6 Shenzhou 15	191 d 2 h 58 m	Commander of the first two-person Chinese crew in space.
Nie Haisheng	聂海胜		Shenzhou 6 Shenzhou 10 Shenzhou 12	111 d 14 h 13 m	Member of the first two-person Chinese crew in space.
Jing Haipeng	景海鹏		Shenzhou 7 Shenzhou 9 Shenzhou 11 Shenzhou 16	201 d 17 h 2 m	Member of the first three-person Chinese crew in space. First repeat Chinese national in space. Commander of the first Chinese crew to achieve crewed spacecraft docking.
Liu Boming	刘伯明		Shenzhou 7 Shenzhou 12	95 d 38 m	Member of the first three-person Chinese crew in space.
Zhai Zhigang	翟志刚		Shenzhou 7 Shenzhou 13	185 d 5 h 59 m	First Chinese national to walk in space. Commander of the first Chinese three-person crew in space.
Liu Wang	刘旺		Shenzhou 9	12 d 15 h 25 m	Member of the first Chinese crew to achieve crewed spacecraft docking.
Liu Yang	刘洋		Shenzhou 9 Shenzhou 14	195 d 50 m	First Chinese woman in space. Member of first Chinese crew to achieve crewed spacecraft docking.
Zhang Xiaoguang	张晓光		Shenzhou 10	14 d 14 h 29 m	Conducted crewed spacecraft rendezvous and docking.
Wang Yaping	王亚平		Shenzhou 10 Shenzhou 13	197 d 1 m	Second Chinese female taikonaut and the first Chinese woman to travel twice in space. First Chinese woman to walk in space.
Chen Dong	陈冬		Shenzhou 11 Shenzhou 14 Shenzhou 20	418 d 11 h 14 m	Conducted multiple space experiments.
Tang Hongbo	汤洪波		Shenzhou 12 Shenzhou 17	279 d 10 h 43 m
Ye Guangfu	叶光富		Shenzhou 13 Shenzhou 18	374 d 13 h 54 m
Cai Xuzhe	蔡旭哲		Shenzhou 14 Shenzhou 19	364 d 18 h 7 m
Deng Qingming	邓清明		Shenzhou 15	186 d 7 h 25 m
Zhang Lu	张陆		Shenzhou 15 Shenzhou 21	243 d 23 h 23 m
Zhu Yangzhu	朱杨柱		Shenzhou 16	153 d 22 h 41 m
Tang Shengjie	唐胜杰		Shenzhou 17	187 d 6 h 32 m
Jiang Xinlin	江新林		Shenzhou 17	187 d 6 h 32 m
Li Cong	李聪		Shenzhou 18	192 d 4 h 25 m
Li Guangsu	李广苏		Shenzhou 18	192 d 4 h 25 m
Song Lingdong	宋令东		Shenzhou 19	182 d 8 h 42 m
Wang Haoze	王浩泽		Shenzhou 19	182 d 8 h 42 m
Chen Zhongrui	陈中瑞		Shenzhou 20	203 d 23 h 23 m
Wang Jie	王杰		Shenzhou 20	203 d 23 h 23 m
Wu Fei	武飞	--	Shenzhou 21	57 d 15 h 10 m

By selection group

;Shuguang Group

Chai Hongliang
Dong Xiaohai
Du Jincheng
Fang Guojun
Hu Zhanzi
Li Shichang
Liu Chongfu
Liu Zhongyi
Lu Xiangxiao
Ma Zizhong
Meng Senlin
Shao Zhijian
Wang Fuhe
Wang Fuquan
Wang Quanbo
Wang Rongsen
Wang Zhiyue
Yu Guilin
Zhang Ruxiang

;Group 1
;;October 1996

Li Qinglong
Wu Jie

;;January 1998

Chen Quan
Deng Qingming
Fei Junlong
Jing Haipeng
Liu Boming
Liu Wang
Nie Haisheng
Pan Zhanchun
Yang Liwei
Zhai Zhigang
Zhang Xiaoguang
Zhao Chuandong

;Group 2

Cai Xuzhe
Chen Dong
Liu Yang
Tang Hongbo
Wang Yaping
Ye Guangfu
Zhang Lu

;Group 3
China announced that 18 people, 17 men and 1 woman, had been selected as new astronauts. The positions were broken down as 7 spacecraft pilots, 7 flight engineers, and 4 mission payload specialists.
As of October 2025, only names of those selected to fly to space have been revealed.

Gui Haichao
Zhu Yangzhu
Tang Shengjie
Jiang Xinlin
Li Cong
Li Guangsu
Song Lingdong
Wang Haoze
Chen Zhongrui
Wang Jie
Wu Fei
Zhang Hongzhang

;Group 4
On October 2022, China announced that 12 to 14 people are to be selected as new astronauts. The positions were broken down as 7-8 spacecraft pilots and 5-6 spaceflight engineers. Up to two of the latter group will become payload specialists. Candidacy was extended to include Hong Kong and Macau.
On June 11, 2024 China announced 10 candidate astronauts, including 8 spacecraft pilots and 2 payload specialists from Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR. Reports prior to this announcement revealed that Lai Ka-Ying of Hong Kong was one of the women selected in the fourth group. The new astronauts will train for two years for both space station missions and crewed lunar missions.