China sent their first man into space #onthisday #history #china
3Fun Facts:
Taikonaut is the name used in the west for a Chinese astronaut. It comes from the Chinese word ‘taikong’ meaning space or cosmos. The official Chinese name is yuhangyuan, meaning ‘travellers of the Universe’.
Yang Liwei held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel when he went into space but was promoted to major general by 2008. He never returned to space and it is speculated that the Chinese government wanted him grounded to keep him out of danger. He is currently the director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office.
Although the first Chinese citizen in space, Yang Liwei is not the first person of Chinese origin in space. Shanghai-born Taylor Wang flew on Space Shuttle mission STS-51-B in 1985. Wang, however, had become a United States citizen in 1975. Taylor Wang was not the first person born in China to go to orbit. William Anders was born in Hong Kong on 17 October 1933. Anders would be a part of the Apollo 8 lunar orbital mission in 1968.
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