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Backgrounder: Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut |
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 Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut piloting a spacecraft, is traveling in the space on board Shenzhou-5 at the moment.
Yang was born in June 1965 in Suizhong County of northeast China's Liaoning Province and joined the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) at 18.
He graduated from the No. 8 Aviation College of the PLA Air Force in 1987 with a bachelor's degree and became a fighter pilot.As a pilot, he has had 1,350 hours of flight experience.
In January 1998, Yang became a member of China's first team of astronauts.
He was selected as one of the finalists to be the country's first astronaut for his excellent performance in the five-year training.
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