Deng Qingming (; born 16 March 1966) 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 ...
.
Early life
He was born into a family of farming background in the
Yihuang County
Yihuang County () is a county of east-central Jiangxi province, People's Republic of China. It is under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Fuzhou, Jiangxi, Fuzhou.
Administrative divisions
In the present, Yihuang County has 7 towns ...
,
Jiangxi
; Gan: )
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, on 16 March 1966.
He is the eldest of five children in the family.
Career
A
fighter pilot
A fighter pilot or combat pilot is a Military aviation, military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, Air-to-ground weaponry, air-to-ground combat and sometimes Electronic-warfare aircraft, electronic warfare while in the cockpit of ...
in the
People's Liberation Army Air Force
The People's Liberation Army Air Force, also referred to as the Chinese Air Force () or the People's Air Force (), is the primary aerial warfare service of the People's Liberation Army. The PLAAF controls most of the PLA's air assets, includi ...
, he was selected to be an astronaut in 1998.
He was announced as a backup member of
Shenzhou 9
Shenzhou 9 () was the fourth crewed spacecraft flight of China's Shenzhou program, launched at 18:37:24 CST (10:37:24 UTC), 16 June 2012. Shenzhou 9 was the second spacecraft and first crewed mission and expedition to dock with the Tiangong-1 ...
,
Shenzhou 10
Shenzhou 10 () was a crewed spaceflight of China's Shenzhou program that was launched on 11 June 2013. It was China's fifth crewed space mission. The mission had a crew of three astronauts: Nie Haisheng, who was mission commander and previously ...
,
Shenzhou 11 and
Shenzhou 12
Shenzhou 12 () was a Chinese spaceflight to the Tiangong space station, launched on 17 June 2021. It carried three People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC) taikonauts on board a Shenzhou spacecraft. The mission was the seventh crewed ...
before finally being selected as one of the three crew members of
Shenzhou 15
Shenzhou 15 () was a Chinese spaceflight to the Tiangong space station, launched on 29 November 2022. It carried three People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC) taikonauts on board a Shenzhou spacecraft. The mission was the tenth crewed ...
. After 24 years of training, in November 2022 he successfully blasted off on 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 stayed for 183 days before returning to Earth in June 2023.
Personal life
His daughter was born in 1991 and now works in the
Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center.
See also
*
List of Chinese astronauts
This is a list of Chinese astronauts. Although they are sometimes referred to as taikonauts in the media, this term is not officially used in China. The official designation in English is simply astronauts (Chinese: 航天员 hángtiānyuán). Th ...
References
Shenzhou program astronauts
People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps
Living people
People's Liberation Army Air Force personnel
1966 births
{{Astronaut-stub