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Yang Liwei (zh-st |s=杨利伟 |t=楊利偉) (born
June 21, 1965) is an astronaut (yuhangyuan) and
the People's Republic of China's first man in
outer space|space.


He was born in Suizhong County 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
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.

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 Chinese
astronauts 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 Chinese
Standard Time|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 (八寶飯), washed down
with Chinese herbal tea. In the middle of the
journey, state television broadcast footage of
Yang 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 1 E8
m|600,000 km. Yang left the capsule about 15
minutes after landing, and was congratulated by
Premier of the People's Republic of China|Premier
Wen Jiabao.

Popular myth has it that the serpentine Great Wall
of China, built more than 2,000 years ago to keep
out marauding nomads, is the only man-made object
visible from space. However, Yang told state
television that he did not see the Great Wall from
space. In fact many man-made objects on earth such
as cities can be seen from space, but the Great
Wall is too narrow for a person to see from orbit.

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 ethnic origin.

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
raise support for the Mainland China|Mainland with
anti-China sentiment running high in the former
United Kingdom|British colony. 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 former Chinese
President and Chairman of the Central Military
Council (CMC). He also received a badge of honour
during a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People.

The asteroid 21064 Yangliwei is named after him.

== See Also ==

* Wan Hu