Liu Yang

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Liu Yang

Chinese astronaut

Written by Erik Gregersen

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Born:: October 6, 1978, Zhengzhou, Henan province, China (age 46)

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Liu Yang (born October 6, 1978, Zhengzhou, Henan province, China) is a Chinese astronaut and the first Chinese woman in space. Liu joined the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in 1997 and learned to fly at Changchun No. 1 Flight College. She became a pilot of cargo planes. Liu attained the rank of major and became deputy head of her flight unit. She joined the astronaut corps in 2010. Liu was launched into space on June 16, 2012, with two other crew members, commander Jing Haipeng and operator Liu Wang, aboard Shenzhou 9, which accomplished China’s first crewed space docking when ...(100 of 177 words)

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