China plans to launch its next manned space mission in June next year. It might carry three astronauts to space. China also plans to develop a full orbiting space station by 2020 and is hopeful about a Chinese landing on moon one day.

Like NASA in US, the space program of China is controlled by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). China can not use the existing NASA International Space Station as Beijing and Washington are not on very friendly terms.

Did you know?

• In 2003 Yang Liwei, aboard Shenzhou 5, became the first chinese to go to space.This achievement made China the third country to independently send a person into space after US and Russia.
• In 2012 Shenzhou 9 carried China’s first female astronaut, Liu Yang and took part in the country’s first manual space docking mission.