Wang Yaping

Wang Yaping
Shenzhou astronaut
Born	April 1978 or January 1980 Yantai, Shandong, China
Rank	Captain
Selection	Chinese Group 2
Missions	Shenzhou 10
Mission insignia

Captain Wang Yaping (simplified Chinese: 王亚平; traditional Chinese: 王亞平; pinyin: Wáng Yàpíng; born January 27, 1980 in Yantai, Shandong) is a Chinese military pilot and astronaut. Wang was the second female astronaut to be named by the CNSA, and the second Chinese woman in space.

Wang is a captain in the People's Liberation Army Air Force.

She was a candidate for the space mission Shenzhou 9 in 2012. However, Liu Yang was selected over her for the historic mission of the first Chinese female space traveller. Wang was a member of the backup crew for SZ-9.

Wang became the second Chinese female astronaut as a member of the Shenzhou 10 spaceship crew, which orbited the earth in June 2013, and of the Tiangong-1 orbiting space station with which it docked. She was the first member of the crew announced, in April, while the remainder of the crew were announced in June. Wang Yaping was one of two women in space on the 50th anniversary of Vostok 6, the first spaceshot by a woman, Valentina Tereshkova. The other woman in space on 16 June 2013 was Karen Nyberg, an American astronaut aboard the International Space Station. While aboard Tiangong-1, Wang conducted scientific experiments and taught a physics lesson to Chinese students by live television broadcast.

According to the official Shenzhou 10 report, Wang Yaping's birth date is stated as January 1980, which is incongruent with that of the Shenzhou 9 report. In the previous report, her birth date was April 1978.

Wang is married, which one former official claimed is required for all women who are part of the Chinese space program due to concerns that spaceflight could potentially harm women's fertility. However, this requirement has been officially denied by the director of the China Astronaut Centre, stating that this is a preference but not a strict limitation.

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