Qi Faren (; born 1933) is a Chinese aerospace engineer and the chief designer for Chinese spacecraft since the launch of the prototype Shenzhou manned spacecraft in 1999. Qi was born in 1933 in

Wafangdian Wafangdian (), formerly Fuhsien (Fuxian) or Fu County (), is one of the two "northern county-level city, county-level cities", the other being Zhuanghe, under the administration of Dalian, located in the south of Liaoning province, China. The ci ...

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...

, China, and graduated from the Beijing Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1957. Qi took part in the research and design of the

People's Republic of 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 ...

's first satellite - the

Dong Fang Hong I ''Dong Fang Hong 1'' (), in the western world also known as China 1 or PRC 1, was the first space satellite of the People's Republic of China (PRC), launched successfully on 24 April 1970 as part of the PRC's Dongfanghong space satellite prog ...

, which was successfully launched, and stayed in orbit, in 1970. He was then appointed the general designer of China's spacecraft in 1992, following the retirement of

Qian Xuesen Qian Xuesen, or Hsue-Shen Tsien (; 11 December 1911 – 31 October 2009), was a Chinese mathematician, cyberneticist, aerospace engineer, and physicist who made significant contributions to the field of aerodynamics and established engineeri ...

. Qi is an academician of the

Chinese Academy of Engineering The Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE, ) is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for engineering. It was established in 1994 and is an institution of the State Council of China. The CAE and the Chinese Academy of Sciences ...

and the

International Academy of Astronautics The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) is an independent non-governmental organization established in Stockholm ( Sweden) on August 16, 1960, by Dr. Theodore von Kármán, and recognized by the United Nations in 1996. The IAA has electe ...

. He was inducted into the

International Astronautical Federation The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) is an international space advocacy organization based in Paris, and founded in 1951 as a non-governmental organization to establish a dialogue between scientists around the world and to lay t ...

Hall of Fame in 2019, the third Chinese inductee after

Wang Xiji Wang Xiji (; born 26 July 1921) is a Chinese aerospace engineer. The chief designer of China's first sounding rocket ( T-7), first space launch vehicle ( Long March 1) and first recoverable satellites, he was awarded the Two Bombs, One Satelli ...

and

Long Lehao Long Lehao (born 4 July 1938) is a Chinese aerospace engineer and scientist who was the chief designer of Long March expendable launch system rockets and deputy chief designer of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. Biography Long was born int ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Qi, Faren 1933 births Living people Shenzhou program Beihang University alumni Chinese aerospace engineers People from Wafangdian Engineers from Liaoning Members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering