China National Space Administration (CNSA) is the national space agency of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) responsible for the space industry and space programme. The agency was created in 1993 when the former PRC Ministry of Aerospace Industry was commercialised to become the China Aerospace Corporation (CASC). While the CASC was responsible for the R&D and production, the CNSA continued the governing and policymaking functions of the ministry. However, in practice the CNSA and CASC were effectively one organisation with two different names, sharing the same personnel and management. The agency gained more independence following the break-up of the CASC in 1999.
