Liu Boming

Liu Boming
Country:	People's Republic of China
Organization:	Space Corps of the People's Liberation Army
selected on	January 5, 1998
Calls:	2 space flights
Start of the first space flight:	September 25, 2008
Landing of the last space flight:	currently in space
Time in space:	2d 20h 27min (without current space flight)
Space flights
Shenzhou 7 (2008) Shenzhou 12 (2021)

Liu Boming ( Chinese 劉伯明 / 刘伯明, Pinyin Liú Bómíng ; born October 29, 1966 in Yi'an , Heilongjiang Province , People's Republic of China ) is a Chinese fighter pilot and spaceman .

Youth and service in the Air Force

Liu Boming was on 29 October 1966 at the village of Dongsheng (东升村) of the then People's Commune good omen (兆祥公社since April 1984 Hongxing community or红星乡) of the circle Yi'an the prefecture-level city Qiqihar , Heilongjiang Province, as a second Born of six children to a farming family. Liu Boming attended elementary school and junior high school in the People's Commune. Although he was considered a quiet child, at that time he was always among the top three in his class. From September 1982, Liu Boming attended the upper school of Yi'an County High School. For his father Liu Zhisheng (刘志生), however, it was difficult for all of his children to go to school under the conditions of the reform and opening- up policy. To save on student dormitory fees, Liu Boming rode an old bicycle 10 km to school every day over potholed dirt roads, even in winter, which brings blizzards and extreme cold in Heilongjiang. For lunch he took corn cakes and some salted vegetables from home. To earn the money for school fees, he worked in a nearby brick factory during the summer vacation. Liu Boming had enjoyed exercising as a child, and working there resulted in further physical strengthening.

In June 1985, just about to graduate from high school, officers from the 1st Elementary Training School of the Chinese Air Force , Changchun , came to the 1st County High School to recruit pilots. When he heard that he could get a university degree there without tuition fees and that the state would cover all costs for food, clothing, etc., he signed up for the entrance exam, to the great joy of his father, who had one less worry. Liu Boming passed the draft and was accepted into the flying school. After two years of basic training, he and his future astronaut colleague Zhai Zhigang , who had started pilot training with him in June 1985 in Changchun, went to the 3rd pilot academy of the Chinese Air Force in Jinzhou, where the two graduated as fighter pilots in May 1989. As well as Zhai Zhigang He became a JG on an air base in the then large village Yangcun (杨村镇) in circle Wuqing of Tianjin offset, where he J-8 Shenyang flew and in the further course of the flight leader climb. Four of the 14 astronauts in the first selection group of the astronaut corps had served on this basis. Liu Boming completed a total of 1,050 accident-free flight hours, for which he was awarded the Level I Military Aircraft Pilot. In September 1990 he joined the Chinese Communist Party , his last rank in the Air Force was a lieutenant colonel.

Service in the space corps

On January 5, 1998, Liu Boming was accepted into the People's Liberation Army Space Corps after a multi-stage selection process . In September 2003, while he was training intensively with his colleagues for China's first manned mission, Shenzhou 5 , he learned that his mother had died. He fell into severe depression and was no longer an option for a space flight. When his depression persisted after six months, his wife and the other space travelers persuaded him to seek psychological help. The treatment had an effect - after another six months he was fully operational again.

In early 2005, Liu Boming was promoted to Colonel, and in June 2005 he and his partner Jing Haipeng - the spacemen trained in fixed teams of two - were selected as one of the three possible crews for Shenzhou 6 . On October 12, 2005, Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng took off on China's second space flight, but three years later, at Shenzhou 7 , Liu Boming was part of the final team. In June 2008 he was selected for this flight together with Jing Haipeng and Zhai Zhigang.

On September 27, 2008, two days after the launch from the Jiuquan Cosmodrome , China's first spacecraft was carried out on this mission . While Zhai Zhigang left the orbital module, which was open to space without a lock , wearing a Feitian space suit, Liu Boming, wearing a Russian Orlan space suit, stayed inside the spacecraft. Zhai Zhigang was secured with two lines, so Liu Boming only had to stretch his upper body through the 80 cm hatch and hand Colonel Zhai a Chinese flag. The mission was successfully completed after 14 minutes.

Liu Boming, major general since 2015, has been married to kindergarten teacher Zhang Yao (张 瑶) since 1993, the daughter of the then director of Yi'an's 1st District High School. Their daughter was born the following year.

See also

• List of spacemen

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Liu Boming in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
2. ↑ ^{a b} 钟 文:刘伯明 与 妻子 一见钟情 高中 时 见 女孩 就 脸红. In: chinadaily.com.cn. September 22, 2008, accessed May 26, 2021 (Chinese). 
3. ↑ 航天 英雄 翟志刚 刘伯明 天津 杨村 起飞. In: news.ifeng.com. September 22, 2008, accessed May 26, 2021 (Chinese). 
4. ↑ ^{a b} 航天 英雄 - 刘伯明. In: yaxzf.hljgov.com. August 2, 2017, accessed May 25, 2021 (Chinese). 
5. ↑ 徐 壮志 、 李宣良:翟志刚 刘 伯明景 海鹏 将 执行 神 七 载人 航天 飞行 任务. In: gov.cn. February 24, 2008, accessed May 25, 2021 (Chinese). 
6. ↑ 翟志刚 景 海鹏 同 获 晋衔 中国 少将 航天 员 增至 5 位. In: guancha.cn. February 15, 2014, accessed May 26, 2021 (Chinese). 
7. ↑ 蒋子文: “神舟 七号” 航天 员 刘伯明 晋升 少将. In: news.ifeng.com. October 9, 2015, accessed May 26, 2021 (Chinese). 

Note: In this article, the family name is placed before the first name of the person. This is the usual order in Chinese. Liu is the family name here, Boming is the first name.