China's spaceplane program

China's spaceplane program is the informal name for Chinese studies and projects aimed at a winged, reusable crewed space vehicle. It is often equated with Project 921-3, a crewed spacecraft sub-system of Project 921, the national crewed spaceflight effort begun in 1992. Early planning for Project 921 weighed six crewed transportation proposals, five of them delta-winged orbiters, but by 1990 the Soyuz-like Shenzhou capsule won out and the shuttle concepts stayed at study level. Proposals studied under the 869 Project included the Tianjiao-1 and Chang Cheng-1 shuttles and rocket-plane designs from several aeronautics institutes. Later concepts include the Shenlong spaceplane, a scaled model first shown in 2007 and reportedly flown sub-orbitally in 2011, and Tengyun, a two-plane reusable system unveiled in 2016. The source notes that official support beyond basic research has not been established.