and China’s first woman in space. Born in the central province of Henan, Yang joined the People’s Liberation Army Air Force in 1997, where she earned 1 680 hours of flying experience and became a major and deputy head of a flight unit. She was known as the ‘Little Flying Knight’. Yang was recruited into China’s astronaut corps in 2010 and was launched into space on 16 June 2016 aboard Shenzhou 9 with two fellow taikonauts. The crew made the nation’s first piloted space docking when it successfully joined with Tiangong 1. During the mission, Liu was in charge of medical experiments and testing space equipment designed for women.