The mission plan of Tiangong-1 was determined as early as 1992, when China formulated the "three-step" strategy for manned space flight. In 2002, after scheme demonstration and review, the overall mission scheme of Tiangong-1 target aircraft was adopted. However, Tiangong-1 has not yet been named, and it is called "Target Aircraft", abbreviated as MB. In 2006, Tiangong-1 entered the initial sample development stage and was named "Tiangong-1", abbreviated as TG. Naming can be based on the following points:

(1) "Tiangong" is a popular name for unknown space by the Chinese nation, such as the Monkey King in the The Journey to the West. It has a national flavor.

(2) "Tiangong" is also easily associated with concepts such as "space laboratory" and "space station".

(3) The goal of Tiangong-1 includes "initially establishing a manned space experimental platform", so "Tiangong" also means "making astronauts live comfortably in space".