Yang Liwei

Yang Liwei (; born 21 June 1965) is a Chinese major general, former military pilot, and former taikonaut at the People's Liberation Army. In October 2003, Yang became the first person sent into space by the Chinese space program. This mission, Shenzhou 5, made China the third country to independently send humans into space. He is currently a vice chief designer of China Manned Space Engineering. Early life and education Yang Liwei was born in Suizhong County, Huludao, Liaoning. His mother was a teacher and his father was an accountant at a state agricultural firm. Yang Liwei married Zhang Yumei with whom they had a son together. Zhang Yumei was a part of the People's Liberation Army and was a teacher in China's Space Program. In 1983, he enlisted for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and was admitted to the Air Force Second Flight Academy, graduating in 1987 with a bachelor's degree. He participated in the screening process for astronauts in 1996. In the PLAAF, he logged 1,350 hours of flight time as a fighter pilot before he went to space training.