Senior Colonel Tang Hongbo (; born October 1975) is a Chinese

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 ...

and

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 An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spacecraft. Although generally reserve ...

. He flew on his first spaceflight 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 ...

as a part of the

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 ...

mission, the first to visit the station. He was the commander of the

Shenzhou 17 Shenzhou 17 () was a Chinese spaceflight to the Tiangong space station, launched on 26 October 2023. It carried three People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC) taikonauts on board a Shenzhou spacecraft. The mission was the twelfth crew ...

mission, making him the first taikonaut to visit Tiangong twice. As of May 2024, Tang has spent 279 days in space, and held the Chinese record for the longest spaceflight duration until surpassed by

Ye Guangfu Ye Guangfu ( zh, s=叶光富, p=Yè Guāngfù; born September 1980) is a Chinese fighter pilot and People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC) taikonaut selected as part of the Shenzhou program. A veteran of the Shenzhou 13 and Shenzhou 1 ...

later in the same year.

Biography

He was born into a family of farming background in the town of Yunhuqiao,

Xiangtan County Xiangtan County () is a county in Hunan Province, China; it is under the administration of Xiangtan City. Located on the east central Hunan, the county is bordered to the north by Yuhu, Yuetang Districts and Xiangtan City, to the west by Xia ...

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

in October 1975. He has a younger brother. Awarded the rank Senior Colonel, he joined the PLA Air Force in September 1995. Where he was promoted to the post of group commander at a fighter jet regiment. He was selected for the second group of astronauts at Nie's division in May 2010 then was chosen in May 2016 as an alternate for the two-member crew of the Shenzhou 11 mission. A

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

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 into the

in 2010. He was part of the backup crew for Shenzhou 11, and flew as one of three crew members on

, the first crewed mission to the

. On 4 July 2021, Tang and Liu Boming, another crew member of Shenzhou 12, completed the first extravehicular activity of Tiangong space station. Later he flew again to Tiangong on the second mission and first as the Commander on

with

Jiang Xinlin Jiang Xinlin (; born February 1988) is a Chinese pilot selected as part of the Shenzhou program. He enlisted in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in September 2006. Biography Jiang was born in rural Qiu County, Kaifeng, Henan Province, in F ...

and

Tang Shengjie Tang Shengjie (; born December 1989) is a Chinese pilot selected as part of the Shenzhou program. He enlisted in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in September 2008. Biography Tang was born in a rural village in Dingxi, Gansu, northwest Chi ...

on 26 October 2023. On 21 December 2023 and 2 March 2024, he carried out his second and third spacewalks, which lasted for 7 hours and 25 minutes and 7 hours and 52 minutes, respectively.

References

External links

* People from Xiangtan County Shenzhou program astronauts People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps Living people People's Liberation Army Air Force personnel PLA Air Force Aviation University alumni Spacewalkers 1975 births {{Astronaut-stub

Biography

See also

References

External links