Deng Qingming
# Deng Qingming

Deng Qingming (Chinese: 邓清明; pinyin: Dèng Qīngmíng; born 16 March 1966) is a Chinese People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC) taikonaut selected as part of the Shenzhou program.

## Early life

He was born into a family of farming background in the Yihuang County, Jiangxi, on 16 March 1966. He is the eldest of five children in the family.

## Career

A fighter pilot in the People's Liberation Army Air Force, he was selected to be an astronaut in 1998.

He was announced as a backup member of Shenzhou 9, Shenzhou 10, Shenzhou 11 and Shenzhou 12 before finally being selected as one of the three crew members of Shenzhou 15. After 24 years of training, in November 2022 he successfully blasted off on the mission to the Tiangong space station, where he stayed for 183 days before returning to Earth in June 2023.

## Personal life

His daughter Deng Manqi (邓满琪) was born in 1991 and now works in the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center.

