Yang Liwei
Yang Liwei is a retired Chinese military pilot, major general, and taikonaut who became the first person launched into space by China's human spaceflight program. His Shenzhou 5 mission made China the third nation to independently send a human into orbit.
- Born
- June 21, 1965
- Died
- N/A
- Birthplace
- Suizhong County, Liaoning,China
Flights
1
Spacewalks
N/A
EVA time
N/A
In space
21 hours, 22 minutes, 45 seconds
Bio
Yang trained as a People's Liberation Army Air Force fighter pilot before selection to China's first astronaut group in 1998. His preparation took place under a program that kept crew details unusually quiet until shortly before launch.
Shenzhou 5 launched from Jiuquan on October 15, 2003, and completed 14 orbits before landing in Inner Mongolia. Yang's flight tested the Shenzhou spacecraft, China's mission-control network, recovery operations, and the country's ability to operate an independent crewed orbital mission.
After the flight, Yang became one of the central public figures in China's space program and later served in senior engineering and program roles. His mission remains the reference point for China's transition from spacecraft testing to a sustained crewed spaceflight program.