Liu Yang (; born 6 October 1978) is a Chinese military transport pilot and taikonaut who served as a crew member on the space mission

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 ...

. On 16 June 2012, Liu became the first Chinese woman in space.

Biography

Liu was born in

Zhengzhou Zhengzhou (; ), also spelt Zheng Zhou and alternatively romanized as Chengchow, is the capital and largest city of Henan Province in the central part of the People's Republic of China. Located in north-central Henan, it is one of the National ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

province in 1978, into a worker's family of Linzhou,

Anyang Anyang (; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively. It had a ...

origin. She graduated from

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 36,000 mu, with more than 19 ...

Changchun Changchun (, ; ), also romanized as Ch'angch'un, is the capital and largest city of Jilin Province, People's Republic of China. Lying in the center of the Songliao Plain, Changchun is administered as a , comprising 7 districts, 1 county and 3 c ...

. Liu joined the

PLA 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 ...

in 1997 and qualified as a pilot before becoming the deputy head of a flight unit, holding the PLAAF rank of

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

. She is a veteran pilot with 1,680 hours of flying experience. After two years of astronaut training, Liu 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 w ...

, as a candidate for the astronaut corps. Liu was selected for the crew of

, the first crewed mission to the Chinese space station

Tiangong 1 Tiangong-1 () was China's first prototype space station. It orbited Earth from September 2011 to April 2018, serving as both a crewed laboratory and an experimental testbed to demonstrate orbital rendezvous and docking capabilities during it ...

, 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 a ...

, the first repeat Chinese space traveller, and

Liu Wang Liu Wang (, born 25 March 1969) is a Chinese pilot selected as part of the Shenzhou program. He was born in the Shanxi province of China and was a fighter pilot in the People's Liberation Army Air Force. He was selected to be an astronaut in 1998. ...

. Liu became the first female Chinese astronaut to go into space. 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 ( rus, Валентина Владимировна Терешкова, links=no, p=vɐlʲɪnʲˈtʲinə vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvnə tʲɪrʲɪʂˈkovə, a=Valentina Tereshkova.ogg; born 6 March 1937) is an engine ...

was launched. During this crewed space mission, Liu performed experiments in

space medicine Space medicine is the practice of medicine on astronauts in outer space whereas astronautical hygiene is the application of science and technology to the prevention or control of exposure to the hazards that may cause astronaut ill health. Both ...

. On June 5, 2022, Liu launched aboard

Shenzhou 14 Shenzhou 14 () was a Chinese spaceflight that launched on 5 June 2022 at 02:44 UTC. The flight marked the ninth crewed Chinese spaceflight and the fourteenth flight of the Shenzhou program. The spacecraft carried three People's Liberation Army A ...

to the Tiangong space station for a mission and stay to last about 6 months. She carried out her first

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 environmen ...

on 1 September 2022, becoming the second Chinese woman to conduct one.

Personal life

Liu is a member of the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

. She is married and has no siblings. In February 2015, it was confirmed that she had given birth, but no further information was given about her child. The news agency

Xinhua Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...

reported a former spaceflight official as claiming that marriage was a requirement for all female Chinese astronauts due to concerns that spaceflight could potentially harm women's fertility and also "married women would be more physically and psychologically mature." However, this requirement has been officially denied by the director of the China Astronaut Centre, stating that this is a preference but not a strict limitation. Liu 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 1978 births People from Zhengzhou People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps Women astronauts Shenzhou program astronauts Living people People's Liberation Army Air Force personnel Chinese women aviators PLA Air Force Aviation University alumni All-China Women's Federation people Spacewalkers

Biography

Personal life

See also

References

External links