Chen Zhongrui (; born October 1984) is a Chinese

People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps The People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC; ), also known as the Chinese Astronaut Corps (), is a Beijing-based deputy-corps grade People's Liberation Army Aerospace Force (PLAASF) and is responsible for the selection and training of ...

(PLAAC) taikonaut selected as part of the

Shenzhou program Shenzhou may refer to: * Shenzhou, or "Divine Land", one of the Chinese names of China * Shenzhou program, a crewed spaceflight initiative by the People's Republic of China * Shenzhou (spacecraft), spacecraft from China which first carried a Chi ...

Biography

Born in Chendazhao Village, Hua County,

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

Province in October 1984. He has loved machinery since childhood and once dreamed of becoming a tractor driver. When he graduated from junior high school, he began to prepare for the Air Force pilot selection test. After passing the test, he entered the Air Force Changchun Flight Academy and was the first batch of flight trainees to fly solo. He began to dream of becoming an astronaut.

Astronaut career

In 2018, he participated in the third batch of astronaut selection and was selected in September 2020. On April 24, 2025, Chen launched on the

Shenzhou 20 Shenzhou 20 () is a Chinese spaceflight to the Tiangong space station launched on 24 April 2025. It carries three taikonauts on board a Shenzhou spacecraft. The mission is the 15th crewed Chinese spaceflight and the 20th flight overall of the ...

mission to the

Tiangong space station Tiangong (), officially the ''Tiangong'' space station (), is a permanently crewed space station constructed by China and operated by China Manned Space Agency. Tiangong is a modular design, with modules docked together while in low Earth o ...

, where he is currently serving as operator.

References

{{Chinese space program 1984 births Living people People from Henan PLA Air Force Aviation University alumni Shenzhou program astronauts People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps People's Liberation Army Air Force personnel