06-003 Our taikonauts, our heroes

06-003
Our taikonauts, our heroes

[Update: This post is updated on 20-Jun-2024 with new information added.]

The successful launch of the Shenzhou 5 marked the birth of the first taikonaut in human history. We started having our own astronaut, Yang Liwei since October 15, 2003. We now even have our first modular space station orbiting in the sky.

Mysterious Somalia miniature sheet featuring our taikonauts.
But some of them have never flown.
And also, why Somalia?

At the time of writing, we have successfully sent 16 people into space. [Update: The number is 22 now.] As a Chinese myself, they are all heroes in my eyes. And I would like to spare a little area of my blog to introduce them to you.

I will keep updating this post when there are more taikonauts joining the hall of fame.

Note: The names are Chinese and therefore surname came first. So, Yang Liwei is Mr. Yang, not Mr. Liwei.

    

1.       Name: Yang Liwei

Chinese Name: 杨利伟

D.O.B.: 1965-6-21

Home County: Liaoning

First time to space: 2003-10-15

Mission: Shenzhou 5

Time in space: 21 hours, 22 minutes, 45 seconds

2.      Name: Fei Junlong

Chinese Name: 费俊龙

D.O.B.: 1965-5-5

Home County: Jiangsu

First time to space: 2005-10-12

Mission: Shenzhou 6, Shenzhou 15

Time in space: 191 days, 2 hours and 58 minutes

3.      Name: Nie Haisheng

Chinese Name: 聂海胜

D.O.B.: 1964-10-13

Home County: Hubei

First time to space: 2005-10-12

Mission: Shenzhou 6, Shenzhou 1o, Shenzhou 12

Time in space: 111 days, 14 hours and 12 minutes

4.      Name: Jing Haipeng

Chinese Name: 景海鹏

D.O.B.: 1966-10-24

Home County: Shanxi

First time to space: 2008-9-25

Mission: Shenzhou 7, Shenzhou 9, Shenzhou 11, Shenzhou 16

Time in space: 207 days, 17 hours and 2 minutes

 

5.      Name: Liu Boming

Chinese Name: 刘伯明

D.O.B.: 1966-9-17

Home County: Shanxi

First time to space: 2008-9-25

Mission: Shenzhou 7, Shenzhou 12

Time in space: 95 days and 29 minutes

6.      Name: Zhai Zhigang

Chinese Name: 翟志刚

D.O.B.: 1966-10-11

Home County: Heilongjiang

First time to space: 2008-9-25

Mission: Shenzhou 7, Shenzhou 13

Time in space: 185 days, 6 hours and 0 minutes

 

7.      Name: Liu Wang

Chinese Name: 刘旺

D.O.B.: 1969-3-25

Home County: Shanxi

First time to space: 2012-6-16

Mission: Shenzhou 9

Time in space: 12 days, 15 hours and 25 minutes

 

8.     Name: Ms. Liu Yang

Chinese Name: 刘洋

D.O.B.: 1978-10-6

Home County: Henan

First time to space: 2012-6-16

Mission: Shenzhou 9, Shenzhou 14

Time in space: 195 days, 0 hours and 50 minutes

9.      Name: Zhang Xiaoguang

Chinese Name: 张晓光

D.O.B.: 1966-5

Home County: Liaoning

First time to space: 2013-6-11

Mission: Shenzhou 10

Time in space: 14 days, 14 hours and 29 minutes

10.  Name: Ms. Wang Yaping

Chinese Name: 王亚平

D.O.B.: 1980-1

Home County: Shandong

First time to space: 2013-6-11

Mission: Shenzhou 10, Shenzhou 13

Time in space: 197 days and 1 minute

11.   Name: Chen Dong

Chinese Name: 陈冬

D.O.B.: 1978-12-12

Home County: Henan

First time to space: 2016-10-17

Mission: Shenzhou 11, Shenzhou 14

Time in space: 214 days, 15 hours and 54 minutes

12.  Name: Tang Hongbo

Chinese Name: 汤洪波

D.O.B.: 1975-10

Home County: Hunan

First time to space: 2021-6-17

Mission: Shenzhou 12, Shenzhou 17

Time in space: 279 days, 10 hours and 43 minutes

13.  Name: Ye Guangfu

Chinese Name: 叶光富

D.O.B.: 1980-9

Home County: Sichuan

First time to space: 2021-10-15

Mission: Shenzhou 13, Shenzhou 18

Time in space: Currently in space

14.  Name: Cai Xuzhe

Chinese Name: 蔡旭哲

D.O.B.: 1976-5

Home County: Hebei

First time to space: 2022-6-5

Mission: Shenzhou 14

Time in space: 182 days, 9 hours and 25 minutes

 

15.  Name: Deng Qingming

Chinese Name: 邓清明

D.O.B.: 1966-3-16

Home County: Jiangxi

First time to space: 2022-11-29

Mission: Shenzhou 15

Time in space: 186 days, 7 hours and 25 minutes

16.  Name: Zhang Lu

Chinese Name: 张陆

D.O.B.: 1976-11

Home County: Hunan

First time to space: 2022-11-29

Mission: Shenzhou 15

Time in space: 186 days, 7 hours and 25 minutes

     

17.  Name: Zhu Yangzhu

Chinese Name: 朱杨柱

D.O.B.: 1986-10

Home County: Jiangsu

First time to space: 2023-5-30

Mission: Shenzhou 16

Time in space: 153 days, 22 hours and 41 minutes

    

18.  Name: Gui Haichao

Chinese Name: 桂海潮

D.O.B.: 1986-11

Home County: Yunnan

First time to space: 2023-5-30

Mission: Shenzhou 16

Time in space: 153 days, 22 hours and 41 minutes

19.  Name: Tang Shengjie

Chinese Name: 唐胜杰

D.O.B.: 1989-12

Home County: Gansu

First time to space: 2023-10-26

Mission: Shenzhou 17

Time in space: 187 days, 6 hours and 32 minutes

20.  Name: Jiang Xinlin

Chinese Name: 江新林

D.O.B.: 1988-2

Home County: Henan

First time to space: 2023-10-26

Mission: Shenzhou 17

Time in space: 187 days, 6 hours and 32 minutes

21.  Name: Li Cong

Chinese Name: 李聪

D.O.B.: 1989-10

Home County: Hebei

First time to space: 2024-4-25

Mission: Shenzhou 18

Time in space: Currently in space

 

22.  Name: Li Guangsu

Chinese Name: 李广苏

D.O.B.: 1987-7

Home County: Jiangsu

First time to space: 2024-4-25

Mission: Shenzhou 18

Time in space: Currently in space

Apart from our home brew taikonauts, some other Chinese have also reached the orbit. They are American Chinese joining the NASA programme to space.

Although their nationalities are different, I also consider them as heroes. I would like to include their names here. Some of them have even reached the space long before Shenzhou 5. Yang is not the first Chinese in space.

A.   Name: Taylor Gun-Jin Wang

Chinese Name: 王赣骏

D.O.B.: 1940-6-16

Home County: Jianxi

First time to space: 1985-4-29

Mission: STS-51-B Challenger

Time in space: 7 days and 8 minutes

B.   Name: Franklin Ramón Chang-Díaz

Chinese Name: 张福林

D.O.B.: 1950-4-5

Home County: Guangdong

First time to space: 1986-1-12

Mission: STS-61-C, STS-34, STS-46, STS-60, STS-75, STS-91, STS-111.

Time in space: 66 days, 18 hours and 16 minutes

C.   Name: Leroy Chiao

Chinese Name: 焦立中

D.O.B.: 1960-8-28

Home County: Shandong

First time to space: 1994-7-8

Mission: STS-65, STS-72, STS-92, Soyuz TMA-5 (Expedition 10)

Time in space: 229 days, 7 hours and 38 minutes

D.  Name: Edward Tsang "Ed" Lu

Chinese Name: 卢杰

D.O.B.: 1963-7-1

Home County:

First time to space: 1997-5-24

Mission: STS-84, STS-106, Soyuz TMA-2 (Expedition 7)

Time in space: 205 days, 23 hours and 18 minutes

E.  Name: Kjell Norwood Lindgren

Chinese Name: 林其兒

D.O.B.: 1973-1-23

Home County:

First time to space: 2015-7-22

Mission: Soyuz TMA-17M (Expedition 44/45), SpaceX Crew-4 (Expedition 67/68)

Time in space: 312 days, 5 hours and 11 minutes

 

F.  Name: Gary Lai

Chinese Name: 

D.O.B.: 1973

Home County:

First time to space: 2022-3-31

Mission: Blue Origin NS-20

Time in space: 10 minutes, 4 seconds

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