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'Yáng Lìwěi' () (born June 21, 1965) is an astronaut of the People's Republic of China. He was the first man sent into space by the space program of China, and his mission, ''Shenzhou 5'', made the PRC the third country to independently send people into space.

Contents

Background

Spaceflight career

Aftermath

See also

References

External links

Background

He was born in Suizhong County of Huludao City in the Liaoning Province, an industrial area in Northeast China. Yang's mother was a teacher, his father an accountant at a state agricultural firm. Yang Liwei's wife is also a People's Liberation Army (PLA) officer, with whom he has a son.
Growing up, his grades were average but he excelled in the sciences. He loved to swim and skate and shone in track and field events.
He joined the PLA when he was 18 years old and worked his way from Lieutenant Colonel to the rank of Colonel (after returning from space). He attended No. 8 Aviation College of the PLA Air Force in 1987 and graduated with a Bachelor's degree. In the PLAAF, he logged 1350 hours of flight time as a fighter pilot before he went to space training.

Spaceflight career

Yang was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1998 and has trained for space flight since then. He was chosen from the final pool of 14 candidates to fly on China's first manned space mission. A former fighter pilot in the Aviation Military Unit of the PLA, he held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel at the time of his mission. He was promoted to full colonel on October 20, 2003. According to the ''Youth Daily'', the decision had been made in advance of his spaceflight, but Yang was not made aware of it.
He was launched into space aboard his ''Shenzhou 5'' spacecraft atop a Long March 2F rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 09:00 CST (01:00 UTC) on October 15, 2003. Prior to his launch almost nothing was made public about the Chinese astronaut candidates; his selection for the ''Shenzhou 5'' launch was only leaked to the media one day before the launch.
Yang punctuated his journey with regular updates on his condition — variations of "I feel good", the last coming as the capsule floated to the ground after re-entry. He spoke to his wife as the Shenzhou 5 started its eighth circuit around the Earth, assuring her from space: "I feel very good, don't worry". He ate specially designed packets of shredded pork with garlic, Kung Pao chicken and "eight treasure" rice (), washed down with Chinese herbal tea. In the middle of the journey, state television broadcast footage of Yáng waving a small flag of the People's Republic of China and that of the United Nations inside his capsule.
State media said Yang's capsule was supplied with a gun, a knife and tent in case he landed in the wrong place.
Yang's craft landed in the grasslands of the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia at around 06:30 CST on October 16, 2003 (22:00 UTC), having completed 14 orbits and travelled more than 600,000 km. Yang left the capsule about 15 minutes after landing, and was congratulated by Premier Wen Jiabao.
Although the first Chinese citizen in space, Yang Liwei is not the first person of Chinese origin in space. Shanghai-born Taylor Wang flew on Space Shuttle mission STS-51-B in 1985. Wang, however, had become a United States citizen in 1975. Shannon Lucid was also born in Shanghai to American missionary parents, and ''Apollo 8'' astronaut William A. Anders was born in Hong Kong, but neither were of Chinese ethnicity. There have also been a number of American-born Chinese astronauts sent into space by NASA.
Yang visited Hong Kong on October 31, 2003, holding talks and sharing his experiences during a six-day stay in the territory. Most observers viewed this as a propaganda visit, designed to maintain the support for the Central Government in the Special Administrative Region. The visit coincided with an exhibition that featured his reentry capsule, spacesuit and leftover food from his 21 hour mission. On November 5, he travelled to Macau.
On November 7, Yang received the title of "Space Hero" from Jiang Zemin, the Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC). He also received a badge of honour during a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People. The Chinese University of Hong Kong has given Yáng a honorary doctorate.
The asteroid 21064 Yangliwei and the fossil bird ''Dalingheornis liweii'' are named after him.

Aftermath

In a similar move taken by the Soviet Union and the United States (with national space flight heroes Yuri Gagarin and John Glenn, respectively) the official decision to no longer assign him to spaceflight missions was made. Thus, since 2005, he only concentrates on training works, as vice director of the Chinese Astronaut Training Center ^[1].

See also

★ Wan Hu

★ Space program of China

References

1. http://mil.longhoo.net/n21412c21.aspx

External links

★ Spacefacts biography of Yang Liwei

★ United Nations: Background Information on Chinese Astronaut, Yang Liwei