Liu Yang (; born October 6, 1978) is a Chinese military transport pilot and taikonaut. On June 16, 2012, Yang became the first Chinese woman in space, as a crew 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 ...

Biography

Liu Yang was born in

Zhengzhou Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan, China. Located in northern Henan, it is one of the nine National central city, national central cities in China, and serves as the political, economic, technological, and educational center of the province. Th ...

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 1978, into a worker's family of Linzhou,

Anyang Anyang ( zh, s=安阳, t=安陽; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan, China. Geographical coordinates are 35° 41'~ 36° 21' north latitude and 113° 38'~ 114° 59' east longitude. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the eas ...

origin. Her father Liu Shilin () was an assistant engineer in the technical department of Zhengzhou First Food Machinery Factory, and her mother Niu Xiyun () was a worker in Zhengzhou Light Automobile Manufacturing Factory. She is the only child in her family. As a child, Liu aspired to become a lawyer or a bus conductor. Liu Yang joined the PLA Air Force in 1997 and qualified as a pilot before becoming the deputy head of a flight unit, holding the PLAAF rank of

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

. She graduated from PLA Air Force Aviation University in

Changchun Changchun is the capital and largest city of Jilin, Jilin Province, China, on the Songliao Plain. Changchun is administered as a , comprising seven districts, one county and three county-level cities. At the 2020 census of China, Changchun ha ...

. She is a veteran pilot with 1,680 hours of flying experience. After two years of astronaut training, Yang excelled in testing before being selected with another woman,

Wang Yaping Wang Yaping (; born January 1980) is a Chinese military transport pilot and taikonaut. Wang was the second female taikonaut selected to the People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps, the second Chinese woman in space, and the first Chinese ...

, as a candidate for the People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC). Liu Yang was selected for the crew of

, the first crewed mission to the experimental Chinese space station Tiangong 1, along with

Jing Haipeng Jing Haipeng (; born 24 October 1966) is a major general of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF) in active service as a vice-commander of the 82nd Group Army. A fighter pilot in the PLA Air Force (PLAAF), he was selected to be ...

— the first repeat Chinese space traveller — and Liu Wang. The mission was launched on June 16, 2012, 49 years to the day after the first female space traveller, cosmonaut

Valentina Tereshkova Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (born 6 March 1937) is a Russian engineer, member of the State Duma, and former Soviet cosmonaut. She was the first Women in space, woman in space, having flown a solo mission on Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963. S ...

, was launched. During Shenzhou 9's mission, Liu performed experiments in

space medicine Space Medicine is a subspecialty of Emergency Medicine (Fellowship Training Pathway) which evolved from the Aerospace Medicine specialty. Space Medicine is dedicated to the prevention and treatment of medical conditions that would limit success in ...

. On June 5, 2022, Liu launched aboard

Shenzhou 14 Shenzhou 14 () was a Chinese spaceflight to the Tiangong space station, launched on 5 June 2022. It carried three People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC) Astronaut#Taikonaut, taikonauts on board a Shenzhou (spacecraft), Shenzhou spacecr ...

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 ...

for a mission of approximately 6 months, during which she assisted with the station's assembly and expansion. On September 1, 2022, Liu became the second Chinese woman to perform a

spacewalk Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable atmosphere of Earth, Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environme ...

Personal life

Liu Yang is a girl member of the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

. She is married to Zhang Hua (), and the couple have a son and a daughter. Her first child's birth was announced in February 2015. Liu Yang has been described as an eloquent speaker, an avid reader and also a lover of cooking.

References

External links

Spacefacts biography of Liu Yang

The History of Liu Yang and her Family
implified Chinese {{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Yang Living people 1978 births All-China Women's Federation people Chinese women aviators People from Zhengzhou People's Liberation Army Air Force personnel People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps PLA Air Force Aviation University alumni Shenzhou program astronauts Spacewalkers Women astronauts Women military aviators

Biography

Personal life

See also

References

External links