Ye Guangfu (Chinese: 叶光富; pinyin: Yè Guāngfù; born September 1980)[2] is a Chinese fighter pilot and People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC) taikonaut selected as part of the Shenzhou program.
Biography
Ye was born in a rural village Shuangliu County, Sichuan to an ordinary family of farmers in September 1980.[3][4] He has an elder sister.[3] His father died when Ye was 8, and he helped with farm work from childhood.[3] Ye's elementary education was at Wan'an Middle School (万安中学) and secondary education at Taiping High School (太平中学).[3]
Career
As a People's Liberation Army Air Force pilot, Ye spent four years as an instructor and four years as a jet fighter pilot and amassed a total of 1,100 hours of flight time. He was selected to join the second batch of Chinese astronauts in 2010 and qualified in 2014.[5][6]
Ye made his first public appearance after participating in the ESA CAVES mission of 2016 organised by the ESA, making him the first Chinese participant of such an event.[7]
He was part of the backup crew for Shenzhou 12,[8] and flew on Shenzhou 13 to the Tiangong space station.[9] On 26 November 2021, Ye and Shenzhou 13 commander Zhai Zhigang carried out the second EVA of the mission, marking Ye's first spacewalk and Zhai's third.[10]
Ye was selected as commander of the Shenzhou 18 mission in 2024.
Personal life
Ye is married and has a son and a daughter.[3][11] His father-in-law is a pilot.[3]
Apart from his native language Chinese, he is also fluent in English and Russian.
See also
References
- ^ "Ye Guangfu - EVA". spacefacts. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
- ^ "Taikonaut Biography: Ye Guangfu". 20 June 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f Zhan Kang (占康) (2002). 航天员叶光富：首战即大考 [Astronaut Ye Guangfu: the First Battle is the Great Exam]. Celebrities' Biographies (in Chinese). 595. Zhengzhou, Henan: Henan Literature and Art Publishing House: 84–89. ISSN 1002-6282.
- ^ 中国航天员叶光富首次亮相 6天6夜探秘撒丁岛洞穴. 中国新闻网. Archived from the original on 24 July 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
- ^ "Cosmonaut Selection: China". spacefacts.de. 16 June 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
- ^ "Ye Guangfu". European Space Agency. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
- ^ "Profile: Ye Guangfu, a new face in China's space mission". Xinhuanet. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
- ^ "China unveils Shenzhou-12 astronauts for space station construction". 16 June 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
- ^ "China unveils Shenzhou-13 crew for six-month space station mission".
- ^ "Shenzhou-13 crew conducts second spacewalk of mission". Nasaspaceflight.com. 26 December 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
- ^ "2022年叶光富儿子是学霸吗 其老婆及家人资料照片公布". nitnews.nyist.net. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
