Jing Haipeng

Jing Haipeng (simplified Chinese: 景海鹏; traditional Chinese: 景海鵬; pinyin: Jǐng Hǎipéng; born October 24, 1966) is a Chinese pilot and astronaut selected as part of the Shenzhou program. A fighter pilot in the People's Liberation Army Air Force, he was selected to be a CNSA astronaut in 1998. He is the first Chinese astronaut to have flown on two missions: Shenzhou 7 and Shenzhou 9.

CNSA career

Jing was one of the six trainees for the Shenzhou 6 mission.

Jing, along with Liu Boming and Zhai Zhigang were selected for the prime crew on Shenzhou 7 on September 17, 2008. On September 25, 2008, at 21:10 CST, they launched into space as the first three-man crew for China aboard China's third human spaceflight mission.

Jing was selected as commander of Shenzhou 9, becoming the first repeat traveller of the Chinese program. He commanded the first manned mission to dock with the first Chinese space station, Tiangong 1, and with the first female astronaut, Liu Yang. The third member of his crew was Liu Wang. The mission was launched on 16 June 2012, returning to Earth on 29 June.