Senior Colonel Tang Hongbo (; born October 1975) is a Chinese

fighter pilot A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...

and

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 sub-corps-level People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force (PLASSF) unit directly under the PLASSF Space Systems Depar ...

(PLAAC) taikonaut. He flew on his first spaceflight to the Tiangong space station as a part of the

Shenzhou 12 Shenzhou 12 (, see § Etymology) was a Chinese spaceflight launched on 17 June 2021. The flight marked the seventh crewed Chinese spaceflight and the twelfth flight of the Shenzhou program. The spacecraft carried three members of the People's ...

mission.

Biography

He was born into a family of farming background in the town of Yunhuqiao,

Xiangtan County Xiangtan County () is a county in Hunan Province, China; it is under the administration of Xiangtan City. Located on the east central Hunan, the county is bordered to the north by Yuhu, Yuetang Districts and Xiangtan City, to the west by Xian ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...

in October 1975. He has a younger brother. Awarded the rank Senior Colonel, he joined the PLA Air Force in September 1995. Where he was promoted to the post of group commander at a fighter jet regiment. He was selected for the second group of astronauts at Nie's division in May 2010 then was chosen in May 2016 as an alternate for the two-member crew of the

Shenzhou 11 Shenzhou 11 was a crewed spaceflight of the Shenzhou program of China, launched on 17 October 2016 (16 October UTC) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. It was China's sixth crewed space mission, at 33 days, it was the longest until the ...

mission. A

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

in 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 ...

, he was selected into the

in 2010. He was part of the backup crew for

, and flew as one of three crew members on

, the first manned mission to the Tiangong space station. On 4 July 2021, Tang and Liu Boming, another crew member of Shenzhou 12, completed the first extravehicular activity of Tiangong space station.

References

External links

* People from Xiangtan County Shenzhou program astronauts People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps Living people People's Liberation Army Air Force personnel PLA Air Force Aviation University alumni Spacewalkers 1975 births {{Astronaut-stub

Biography

See also

References

External links