Zhang Lu (; born November 1976) is a Chinese pilot 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 ...

. He enlisted in the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

(PLA) in August 1999, and joined 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 ...

(CCP) in April 1999. Zhang launched on the

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 ...

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 ...

Biography

Zhang was born into a fisherman's family in

Hanshou County Hanshou County () is a county in Hunan Province, China, it is under the administration of Changde prefecture-city. The County is located on the north in Hunan Province and the southeast in Changde City, it borders to the north and the west by Din ...

, Hunan, in November 1976. He attended Chengguan No. 4 Primary School (), Zhanlepin Middle School () and Hanshou County No. 1 High School (). In 1981, at the age of 5, his family relocated to downtown Hanshou County, where they engaged in freshwater aquaculture. Due to hard work and thrift, his family became a 10,000-Yuan-Household () in the early days of the

Chinese economic reform Reform and opening-up ( zh, s=改革开放, p=Gǎigé kāifàng), also known as the Chinese economic reform or Chinese economic miracle, refers to a variety of economic reforms termed socialism with Chinese characteristics and socialist marke ...

. In his early teens, he developed taste for singing. After graduating from the current

PLA Air Force Aviation University The People's Liberation Army Air Force Aviation University () is a military university in Changchun, Jilin, China. As of fall 2014, the university has 7 campuses, consists of 7 departments, covers a total area of , with more than 19,000,000 s ...

in 2000, he became a fighter pilot 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 ...

, and was selected to be an astronaut in May 2010.

Personal life

Zhang married in 2003 and has a daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Lu 1976 births Living people People from Hanshou County PLA Air Force Aviation University alumni Shenzhou program astronauts People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps People's Liberation Army Air Force personnel Spacewalkers