| SHENZHOU | Chinese space programme ('divine craft') whose fifth flight carried the first Chinese astronaut, Yang Liwei, into space in 2003 (8) |
| HLIKA | Come down from fifth flight to first landing in initial - and final - crack to close symposia (5) |
| ELAL | Its maiden flight carried its country's president home |
| VOSTOK | Which series of six manned Soviet orbiting spacecraft included the one that carried the first man in space? (6) |
| PIGEON | What carried the first long-distance airmail? (6) |
| GAO | Novelist ___ Xingjian, the first Chinese to receive the Nobel Prize in literature |
| LIU | Human rights activist Xiaobo, the first Chinese citizen to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (2010) |
| PENGSHUAI | The first Chinese tennis player to rise to world No. 1 in singles or doubles. (4,5) |
| GUANYU | The first Chinese driver to compete in Formula One, Zhou _ (6) |
| LIREN | Chess grandmaster who became the first Chinese world champion on April 30 2023 (4,5) |
| DING | Chess grandmaster who became the first Chinese world champion on April 30 2023 (4,5) |
| TIANGONG | Planned Chinese space station whose core module, the Tianhe ('Harmony of the Heavens') was launched on 29 April 2021 (8) |
| CHAO | Elaine, the first Chinese-American Cabinet member |
| DOLLAR | Drinking Rum And Coca-Cola, The Andrews Sisters were, "Both mother and daughter; Working for the Yan |
| PLANE | Craft whose captain might break the news to his passengers that they are in a holding pattern |
| CAI | First Chinese minister of education after the end of the imperial system (3) |
| TABERNACLE | The portable sanctuary in the form of a tent in which the ancient Israelites carried the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament |
| THECROWN | Netflix series whose fifth season concludes with the election of Tony Blair |
| APOLLO | NASA space programme which succeeded in landing the first humans on the Moon (6) |
| PIONEER | NASA space programme whose tenth and eleventh probes made the first flybys of Jupiter (1973) |
