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 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 ...

, the second Chinese woman in space, and the first 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 ...

. In April 2022, she set a new record for longest stay in space by a female Chinese astronaut with a cumulative 197 days in space.

Early life

Wang was born in the prefecture of

Yantai Yantai, formerly known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of the People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of the Bohai Strait, Yantai borders Qingdao ...

, in

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

province. Her mother and father are farmers, and she was reported to have two sisters. In September 1991, she entered junior high school in Yantai, and in 1994 entered Yantai Yizhong High School, graduating in 1997. She was admitted to the Changchun Flight College of 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 ...

Air Force career

Wang joined the air force in August 1997. Wang was from the seventh batch of female military pilots in China, one of 37 members, and graduated from Aviation University and flight school in 2001 with the rank of First Lieutenant. As a pilot with the Air Force's

transport aircraft Transport aircraft is a broad category of aircraft that includes: * Airliners, aircraft, usually large and most often operated by airlines, intended for carrying multiple passengers or cargo in commercial service * Cargo aircraft or freighters, fix ...

crew in Wuhan, she has participated in tasks such as combat readiness exercises, the Wenchuan Earthquake relief effort, and cloud seeding and weather modification for the

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

to eliminate clouds and reduce rain. After accumulating safe flights for 1600 hours, she was named Air Force Class II pilot. In May 2010 she officially became the second female astronaut of China. At that time Wang was a captain in the People's Liberation Army Air Force.

Spaceflight career

She was a candidate for the space mission Shenzhou 9 in 2012. However, Liu Yang was selected over her for the historic mission of the first Chinese female space traveller. Wang was a member of the backup crew for SZ-9.

Shenzhou 10

Wang became the second Chinese female spacefarer as a member of the Shenzhou 10 spaceship crew, which orbited the Earth in June 2013, and of the Tiangong-1 orbiting space station with which it docked. She was known as the “Goddess II”. She was the first member of the crew announced, in April, while the remainder of the crew were announced in June. Wang Yaping was one of two women in space on the 50th anniversary of

Vostok 6 Vostok 6 () was the first human spaceflight to carry a woman, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, into space. Mission The spacecraft was launched on 16 June 1963. It set the record for highest orbital inclination of a crewed spacecraft at 65°, a rec ...

, the first spaceflight by a woman,

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 ...

. The other woman in space on 16 June 2013 was Karen Nyberg, an American astronaut aboard the International Space Station. While aboard Tiangong-1, Wang conducted scientific experiments and taught a physics lesson to Chinese students by live television broadcast. In 2018, she held the rank of Air Force Colonel, and had trained to fly four aircraft models. In March 2018, Wang was elected for a five-year-term as a deputy to the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress (NPC) is the highest organ of state power of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The NPC is the only branch of government in China, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs from the Sta ...

Shenzhou 13

In October 2021, it was announced that Wang was selected as one of the three crew members to fly on

Shenzhou 13 Shenzhou 13 () was a Chinese spaceflight to the Tiangong space station, launched on 15 October 2021. It carried three People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC) taikonauts on board a Shenzhou spacecraft. The mission was the eighth crew ...

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 ...

, marking her second spaceflight and the first time a Chinese woman would travel to space twice. She was to be the first female astronaut to board the Tiangong space station and to perform an extravehicular activity. The mission would be China's longest crewed space mission. On 15 October 2021, the three Shenzhou 13 crewmembers arrived at the Tianhe space station module, hours after launch. On 7 November, the China Manned Space Agency announced that a spacewalk was underway and it was being performed by astronauts

Zhai Zhigang Zhai Zhigang (; born 11 October 1966) is a Chinese major general of the People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force (PLASSF) in active service as a People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC) taikonaut. During the Shenzhou 7 missio ...

, the Shenzhou 13 mission commander, and Wang Yaping, who was now China's first female spacewalker. EVA operations started at 6:21 p.m.. Wang exited from the node cabin of the Tianhe Core Module at 8:28 p.m.. Zhai and Wang completed their EVAs and returned to Tianhe by 1:16 a.m. on 8 November, the entire operation having lasted 6 hours and 25 minutes. Wang wore a new spacesuit, delivered to the station by the Tianzhou 3 cargo resupply craft in September. According to Chinese state media, this suit was optimized for her shorter height.

Personal life

Wang is married to Zhao Peng, a PLAAF pilot. She has one daughter. She is studying for a doctoral degree in psychology at

Peking University Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...

References

External links

Spacefacts biography of Wang Yaping
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Yaping Living people 1980 births Peking University alumni People's Liberation Army Air Force personnel People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps Shenzhou program astronauts Spacewalkers Women astronauts Women military aviators