The launcher of China's crewed Shenzhou programme.
Long March 2F, also called Chang Zheng 2F, launches Shenzhou spacecraft. The rocket provides ascent; Shenzhou is the spacecraft in which astronauts live and return to Earth.
Development begins in the 1990s and the first uncrewed flight takes place in 1999. Shenzhou 5 carries Yang Liwei in 2003, China's first independently launched human spaceflight.
Later missions expand crew sizes and operations. Shenzhou 7 enables China's first spacewalk, while subsequent flights support the Tiangong space-station programme.
Selected representative missions; crew names belong to the flight shown.
Yang Liwei becomes the first astronaut launched by China.
Three astronauts take part; Zhai Zhigang performs China's first spacewalk.
Dates follow the days reported by the source agencies, generally in local time; the UTC day can differ. Crews belong to the selected missions, not every flight in the family.
The family is a central technical element in a human spaceflight programme built progressively through testing.
First flight or first test of the family, including unsuccessful or suborbital attempts.
