Yang Liwei
| Yang Liwei |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| CNSA Astronaut | |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Status | Active |
| Born |
21 June 1965 Suizhong, Huludao, Liaoning, China |
|
Other occupation
|
Fighter pilot |
| Rank | Major General, PLAAF |
|
Time in space
|
21 hours, 22 minutes, 45 seconds |
| Selection | Chinese Group 1 |
| Missions | Shenzhou 5 |
|
Mission insignia
|
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Yang Liwei (simplified Chinese: 杨利伟; traditional Chinese: 楊利偉; pinyin: Yáng Lìwěi ) (born 21 June 1965) is a major general, military pilot, and China National Space Administration astronaut. In 2003, he became the first person sent into space by the Chinese space program. This mission, Shenzhou 5, made China the third country to independently send humans into space.
Yang was born in Suizhong County, Huludao, Liaoning province. His mother was a teacher, and his father was an accountant at a state agricultural firm. Yang Liwei's wife is also a People's Liberation Army (PLA) officer, with whom he has a son.
In 1983, he was admitted to the Number 2 PLAAF Flight Academy (空军第2飞行学院) and graduated four years later. He participated in the screening process for astronauts in 1996.
In the PLAAF, he logged 1350 hours of flight time as a fighter pilot before he went to space training.
Yang was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1998 and has trained for space flight since then. He was chosen from the final pool of 13 candidates to fly on China's first manned space mission. A former fighter pilot in the Aviation Military Unit of the PLA, he held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel at the time of his mission. He was promoted to full Colonel on 20 October 2003. According to the Youth Daily, the decision had been made in advance of his spaceflight, but Yang was not made aware of it.
He was launched into space aboard his Shenzhou 5 spacecraft atop a Long March 2F rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 09:00 CST (01:00 UTC) on 15 October 2003. Prior to his launch almost nothing was made public about the Chinese astronaut candidates; his selection for the Shenzhou 5 launch was only leaked to the media one day before the launch.
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