About: Human spaceflight programs

Human spaceflight programs have been conducted, started, or planned by multiple countries and companies. Until the 21st century, human spaceflight programs were sponsored exclusively by governments, through either the military or civilian space agencies. With the launch of the privately funded SpaceShipOne in 2004, a new category of human spaceflight programs – commercial human spaceflight – arrived. As of July 2021, three countries (Soviet Union/Russia, United States and China) and one private company (SpaceX) have launched humans to Earth orbit, and two private companies (Scaled Composites and Blue Origin) have launched humans on a suborbital trajectory. The criteria for what constitutes human spaceflight vary. The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale defines spaceflight as any flight