Fei Junlong

Fei Junlong (; born 5 May 1965) is a Chinese military pilot and taikonaut. He was the commander of Shenzhou 6, the second crewed spaceflight of China's space program, and was selected as commander for the Shenzhou 15 mission to the Tiangong space station.

Early life He was born in a rural village in Kunshan, Jiangsu province of China to a family of farmers and was recruited from high school by the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) in 1982 at the age of 17. He graduated with excellent marks from the PLAAF's No. 9 Aviation School, the Changchun No.1 Flight College of the PLA Air Force and Flight Training School of the Air Force. In the PLAAF, he was a pilot, flight trainer and flight technology inspector.

Spaceflight career Fei was selected for the CNSA astronaut program in 1998. He was in the final five selected for China's first crewed space flight, Shenzhou 5. He was the commander on the Shenzhou 6 flight that launched October 12, 2005, with Nie Haisheng serving as flight engineer. They landed on October 17, 2005.

Fei is also a member of Shenzhou 15's 3-person crew on a 6-months mission to Tiangong space station. The mission launched on 29 November 2022, arriving at the station about seven hours later.

Personal life He married Wang Jie in 1991 and has one son. His father-in-law was a veteran of the Korean War and later became an aerospace researcher, and his mother-in-law was a teacher. His son Fei Di is also a member of the Shenzhou spacecraft development team. During his personal time he dabbles in fine arts.

Awards and honors Command Pilot of PLAAF, 1982 Merit Citation Class II, 1996 Chinese May 4 Medal for Youth Having Outstanding Contributions, 2005 Aerospace Achievement Medal, 2005 The honorary title of "Space Hero", 2005 Top 10 Inspirational Models of China, 2006 Asteroid 9512 Feijunlong, 2007 Honorary Professor of Nanjing Audit University, 2011 Honorary Member of Chinese Society of Astronautics, 2012

The asteroid 9512 Feijunlong was named after him.