Yang Liwei, China's first man in space

In the history of China's space journey, one name shines brightly – Yang Liwei, the trailblazing taikonaut who became the first Chinese person to travel into space. Before his historic mission, Yang underwent years of intense training, overcoming physical and psychological challenges to earn his place as China's space pioneer.

On October 15, 2003, the then 38-year-old Yang boarded Shenzhou-5, China's first manned spacecraft. After 14 orbits around the Earth in approximately 21 hours, he safely returned, marking a monumental achievement: China became the 3rd country in the world to independently send a human into space.

Since then, Yang has continued to contribute to China's space program, mentoring younger astronauts and supporting space station development. His legacy remains a powerful source of inspiration as China embarks on new deep space explorations.