Chen Quan (; born December 1963) is a Chinese pilot selected as part of the
Shenzhou program
The China Manned Space Program (CMS; ), also known as Project 921 () is a space program developed by the People's Republic of China and run by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), designed to develop and enhance human spaceflight capabilities fo ...
.
Chen was born in
Suining
Suining (; Sichuanese Pinyin: Xu4nin2; Sichuanese pronunciation: ; ) is a prefecture-level city of eastern Sichuan province in Southwest China. In 2002, Suining had a population of 658,798.
Geography and climate
Suining is located in the cent ...
,
Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
He joined the
People's Liberation Army Air Force
The People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF; ), also known as the Chinese Air Force (中国空军) or the People's Air Force (人民空军), is an aerial service branch of the People's Liberation Army, the regular armed forces of the Peo ...
and became a fighter interceptor pilot and later as a
regiment
A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation.
In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...
commander in the PLAAF.
Career as an astronaut
Chen was selected to be an astronaut in 1998 and served as commander of the backup crew for
Shenzhou 7
Shenzhou 7 () was the third human spaceflight mission of the Chinese space program. The mission, which included the first Chinese extra-vehicular activity (EVA) carried out by crew members Zhai Zhigang and Liu Boming, marked the commencement of ...
which flew in September 2008.
See also
*
List of Chinese astronauts
This is a list of Chinese astronauts, sometimes called taikonauts. The list includes people trained by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft.
As the Chinese space program dev ...
References
Chen Quanat the
Encyclopedia Astronautica
The ''Encyclopedia Astronautica'' is a reference web site on space travel. A comprehensive catalog of vehicles, technology, astronauts, and flights, it includes information from most countries that have had an active rocket research program, f ...
. Accessed 23 July 2005.
Spacefacts biography of Chen Quan
Living people
People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps
People from Suining
Shenzhou program astronauts
People's Liberation Army Air Force personnel
1963 births
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