Happy birthday, taikonaut Fei Junlong!

Chinese astronaut Fei Junlong, born May 5, 1965, has been in space twice.  

His first mission was aboard Shenzhou 6 as commander in October 2005.  The spaceflight lasted almost 5 days before he returned to Earth.

His second mission was aboard Shenzhou 15 as commander launched in November 2022 to the Tiangong space station.  Fei Junlong performed 4 EVAs during the mission.  He spent about 6 months in space before returning to Earth in June 2023.

The crew of Shenzhou 17 landed today!

Shenzhou 17 crew (L-R): Jiang Xinlin, Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie

Members of the Shenzhou 17, the sixth mission to the Tiangong space station, landed safely today in Inner Mongolia, China.  The crew consisted of Commander Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie, and Jiang Xinlin. It was Tang Hongbo's second mission and the first person to visit the space station twice.  The spaceflight launched October 26, 2023.

Tang Shengjie is the youngest taikonaut to perform a spacewalk at 34. The crew performed 2 EVAs for a total of 15 hours and 17 minutes.  

Happy birthday, Chinese astronaut Wang Yaping!

Wang Yaping, born January 1980 in Shandong, China, is the second Chinese woman in space, and the first Chinese woman to perform a spacewalk.  She set a record for the longest stay in space by a female Chinese astronaut in April 2022 with a total of 197 days.

Her first trip into space was aboard Shenzhou 10 as Laboratory Assistant to Tiangong 1 in June 2013.  The crew returned to Earth 14 days and 14.5 hours later.

Her second mission was aboard Shenzhou 13 as Operator to the Tianhe core module, the first part of the Tiangong space station in October 2021. During the mission, she conducted an EVA in November 2021 with fellow astronaut Zhai Zhigang to install the robotic arm suspension and perform some routine tests. The EVA lasted 6 hours, 25 minutes. The crew returned to Earth in April 2022.