As of 2026, the People's Republic of China has sent four women to space: Liu Yang, Wang Yaping, Wang Haoze and Lai Ka-ying all of whom are taikonauts in the People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC). Liu Yang, China's first female taikonaut, first flew in 2012 aboard Shenzhou 9, and since then four additional missions have included female crew members: Shenzhou 10, 13, 14, 19 and 23. According to the China National Space Administration, many women also hold leadership positions in the Chinese space program, and actively contribute to the Chinese space effort.
History
China launched its first crewed space mission, Shenzhou 5, in 2003, with a single male taikonaut (Yang Liwei) aboard. Following the mission's success, Gu Xiulian, president of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), recommended to the Chinese space program that women should be considered for spaceflight selection. This recommendation was accepted, and was publicly announced in early 2004. Women's integration into the space program necessitated minor changes to the interior design of the Shenzhou spacecraft to accommodate both male and female taikonauts. This mission, Shenzhou 9, included taikonaut Liu Yang as Laboratory Assistant, making her the first Chinese woman to fly in space. Shenzhou 9 was launched on 16 June 2012, the 49th launch anniversary of Vostok 6, the first mission to put a woman (Soviet parachutist Valentina Tereshkova) into space.
On 11 June 2013, Shenzhou 10 launched with taikonaut Wang Yaping aboard as Laboratory Assistant, making her the second Chinese woman in space. Wang Yaping became the first Chinese woman to travel to space twice and the first to visit the Tiangong space station in October of 2021, when she launched aboard Shenzhou 13.
Liu Yang would return to space in 2022, flying aboard Shenzhou 14.
In 2026, Lai Ka-ying was sent onboard Shenzhou 23 as a Payload specialist making her the first Hong Kong citizen to travel to space.
Female taikonauts
Liu Yang
thumb|upright|[[Liu Yang (astronaut)|Liu Yang, the first Chinese woman in space]]
Liu Yang became the first female Chinese taikonaut in 2012. Throughout her astronautical career, Liu has been awarded the title of "Heroic Astronaut" and received the Third-class Space Service Medal for her work aboard the Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-14 missions, respectively.
Showing exemplary academic performance in her formative schooling years, Liu's professors signed her up in 1997 to attend the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) Air Force Aviation University in Changchun to become a pilot. Liu excelled in her training flying cargo planes and eventually became the Deputy Head of her flying unit. On this mission, Liu performed the first manual docking of the flight and was in charge of medical experiments throughout the flight's duration. During this mission, Wang and her two colleagues successfully docked, undocked, and boarded the Tiangong-1. Wang returned to Earth aboard the Shenzhou-13 in April 2022, 182 days after takeoff. Wang and her 2 colleagues set a record for most days in orbit by any Taikonaut. She was also the first female taikonaut of Manchu ethnicity on space.
Lai Ka-ying
Dr. Lai Ka-ying is the first Hong Kong female taikonaut. She flew on Shenzhou 23 in May 2026.
Obstacles
According to Jun Lu, Senior Engineer at Beijing Institute of Tracking and Telecommunications Technology and Deputy Chief Designer of BeiDou Grounded Test and Validation System, "[women's] qualities of being meticulous, dedicated, responsible and their ability to work under high pressure for a long time" allow them to thrive in the field due to the "high risk and long development cycle" of space technology development. However, Chinese taikonaut academies institute more stringent qualifications for female taikonauts than their male counterparts. Due to fears that childbirth and subsequent family obligations would disrupt training for two to three years, taikonaut academies favor women who are married and already have children.
Prior to the launch of Shenzhou 9, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported a former spaceflight official as claiming that marriage was a requirement for all female Chinese astronauts due to concerns that spaceflight could potentially harm women's fertility and also "married women would be more physically and psychologically mature." However, this requirement has been officially denied by the director of the China Astronaut Centre, stating that this is a preference but not a strict limitation.
When interviewing women taikonauts, the media was more interested in their family lives and female physiology than when interviewing male taikonauts. Questions regarding menstruation are often brought up as well. She first began working at the Wenchang site as an operator after she graduated from university at the beginning of 2020 and, by the end of the year, had become the commander of her unit.
List of Chinese women in space by mission
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Name
!Mission
!Date
!Notes
|-
| Liu Yang
| Shenzhou 9 <br />Shenzhou 14
| 2012<br />2022
| First Chinese woman in space
|-
| Wang Yaping
| Shenzhou 10<br />Shenzhou 13
| 2013<br />20212022
| First Chinese woman to travel twice to space, first woman to visit the Tiangong space station and first woman to walk in space
|-
| Wang Haoze
| Shenzhou 19
| 20242025
|
|-
| Lai Ka-ying
| Shenzhou 23
| 2026
| Also first resident of Hong Kong in space
|}
Firsts and records
Updated as of November 8, 2023.
{|class=wikitable
|+ Firsts
! First
! Date
! Mission
! Name
! Ref
|-
| First Chinese woman in space
| 16 June 2012
| Shenzhou 9
| Liu Yang
|
|-
| First Chinese woman in orbit
| 16 June 2012
| Shenzhou 9
| Liu Yang
|
|-
| First Chinese woman aboard a space station
| 18 June 2012
| Shenzhou 9
| Liu Yang
|
|-
| First Chinese woman to spacewalk
| 7 November 2021
| Shenzhou 13
| Wang Yaping
|
|-
| First Chinese woman to command a mission
|
|
|
|
|-
| First Chinese woman to go on multiple missions
| 15 October 2021
| Shenzhou 13
| Wang Yaping
|