Liu Yang was born in Zhengzhou, Henan province in 1978,[5] into a worker's family of Linzhou, Anyang origin.[6][7][8] Her father Liu Shilin (刘士林) was an assistant engineer in the technical department of Zhengzhou First Food Machinery Factory, and her mother Niu Xiyun (牛喜云) was a worker in Zhengzhou Light Automobile Manufacturing Factory.[6] She is the only child in her family.[6] As a child, Liu aspired to become a lawyer or a bus conductor.[9]
Liu Yang joined the PLA Air Force in 1997 and qualified as a pilot before becoming the deputy head of a flight unit, holding the PLAAF rank of major. She graduated from PLA Air Force Aviation University in Changchun. She is a veteran pilot with 1,680 hours of flying experience. After two years of astronaut training, Yang excelled in testing before being selected with another woman, Wang Yaping, as a candidate for the People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC).[10]
Liu Yang was selected for the crew of Shenzhou 9, the first crewed mission to the experimental Chinese space station Tiangong 1, along with Jing Haipeng — the first repeat Chinese space traveller — and Liu Wang. The mission was launched on June 16, 2012, 49 years to the day after the first female space traveller, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was launched.[11] During Shenzhou 9's mission, Liu performed experiments in space medicine.[12]
On June 5, 2022, Liu launched aboard Shenzhou 14 to the Tiangong space station for a mission of approximately 6 months, during which she assisted with the station's assembly and expansion.[13] On 1 September 2022, Liu became the second Chinese woman to perform a spacewalk.[14]
