Who runs the manned space program?
It is first necessary to look at the organizational structure of the Chinese space program and its history. From the beginning, the Chinese military was responsible for the space program. This was natural as there were no civil programs at all in the 1960s and early 1970s. When the space program expanded with civil programs such as communication satellite and weather satellite programs, they were also led by the military sector. At that time, a military department called COSTIND (Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense) was responsible for the space program as well as other defense programs. In 1998 most of the responsibilities of COSTIND moved to the PLA’s newly formed General Armaments Department (GAD). The COSTIND was reorganized to carry out overall management of the space industry and to run civil space programs. Later, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) was founded as an organization under CONSTIND to oversee international cooperation. In 2
