School of Astronautics was founded in 1958, based on Department of Aerospace Engineering and is one of the earliest to focus on the astronautical technology in China. In December 1988, Department of Aerospace Engineering was developed into School of Aerospace Engineering, and in July 2003 it was officially renamed as School of Astronautics. After 50 years’development, the School of Astronautics has formed a high-leveled team led by academicians and well-known experts. By May 2013, there are 124 full-time staff, including: 31 professors, 35 associate professors, 28 doctoral supervisors, 6 administrative staff and 10 experimental technicians. 104 teachers hold a doctor’s degree, accounting for 84% of the total number. There are 2 members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Currently, school of astronautics is composed of 5 departments, 1 research institution, 2 National Key Laboratory, 2 Provincial Key Laboratory and Engineering Research Center . There are 3 Post-doctoral Research Center: Aeronautical and Astronautical Science and Technology, Control Theory and Control Engineering, Armament Science and Technology. It provides 4 bachelor degree programs: Flight Vehicle Designand Engineering; Detection, Guidance and Control; Flight Vehicle Propulsion Engineering and aerospace engineering. Currently, there are 1500 students studying in the school, 800 of which are undergraduates.

Following the spirit of NPU, which is “firm basic knowledge, industries and serious work, plain and guileless style, creative and brave innovation”, School of Astronautics has made remarkable achievement in training students and had high social reputation. It has cultivated more than 6000 senior talents specialized in aeronautics and astronautics, 2 of which are China's Top Ten Outstanding Youth.

Aiming at applying basic research into practice and meeting needs of national strategy, School of Astronautics undertook many research tasks and a number of important research results have been achieved, including development of more than 20 types of space vehicles, carrier rocket and satellites. The school was cited by Manned Space Engineering Office for it's remarkable contributions to China’s first manned flight test. School of Astronautics has become an influential institute in training excellent students and doing scientific research.