taikonauts

Taikonaut is the commonly used English-language term for Chinese astronauts. The word combines taikong, meaning space or outer space, with the -naut suffix, mirroring astronaut for the United States or cosmonaut for Russia. The term is widely used in international media, though official Chinese usage often refers to astronauts simply as astronauts.

China's human spaceflight program is organized by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). Crewed missions have been conducted under the Shenzhou program, which relies on Long March launch vehicles to reach orbit and on the Chinese space station program to support long-term presence in space. Training for taikonauts is conducted at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center, and astronauts are selected from the People's Liberation Army and other qualified candidates.

Notable milestones include Yang Liwei, who became China's first taikonaut aboard Shenzhou 5 in 2003. Zhai Zhigang performed China's first spacewalk in 2008 during Shenzhou 7. Liu Yang became the first Chinese woman in space on Shenzhou 9 in 2012, and Wang Yaping followed on Shenzhou 10 in 2013, delivering a live space-based science class to students on Earth.

China's current and planned crewed operations center on the Tiangong space station. The Tianhe core module entered service in 2021, with the Wentian and Mengtian laboratories added in 2022. A series of crewed Shenzhou missions—12 through 15 and beyond—have docked with Tiangong, supporting long-duration presence and scientific experiments.

Taikonauts have contributed to microgravity research, space biology, and human spaceflight techniques, reinforcing China's role in international space exploration. The term taikonaut remains a common descriptor for Chinese astronauts alongside the generic term astronaut.