Zhai Zhigang

Zhai was born in a rural village^[which?] on 11 October 1966.^[4] He is the youngest of six children.^[4] He attended Longjiang County No. 2 High School.^[4] He studied at the PLA Air Force Aviation University to be a fighter pilot and then as a squadron leader.

Zhai achieved the ranks of lieutenant colonel and pilot trainer in the PLAAF. He has logged over 1000 hours of flight time.^[5]

In 1996, Zhai was selected as a candidate for the taikonaut program and was appointed to be part of the first group of fourteen in 1998. He was one of three members of the final group to train for the Shenzhou 5 flight. Yang Liwei was picked for the flight, with Zhai Zhigang ranked second ahead of Nie Haisheng. Zhai was one of the six taikonauts in the final training for Shenzhou 6. Ta Kung Pao had reported that Zhai Zhigang and Nie Haisheng were the leading pair after having been in the final group of three for Shenzhou 5. However, Zhai was paired with Wu Jie during training. Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng flew the flight.

Shenzhou 7

Zhai, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng were selected as the primary crew on Shenzhou 7, with Zhai as commander, on 17 September 2008. On 25 September 2008, at 21:10 CST, they launched as the first three-person crew for China, China's third human spaceflight.^[6][7] On 27 September 2008, Zhai became the first Chinese astronaut to perform a spacewalk, completely outside the craft. Fellow crew member Liu Boming stood by at the airlock and could be seen straddling the portal. Zhai successfully completed his spacewalk at 18:25 CST.^[6] Zhai wore the Chinese developed Feitian space suit, while Liu wore the Russian derived Orlan-M space suit.

Zhai's favourite pastimes are calligraphy, dance and gadgetry.^{[citation needed]} He is married to Zhang Shujing and has one son.^{[citation needed]}

• List of Chinese astronauts
• Chinese space programme