Nie Haisheng | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||
| Born | (1964-10-13)13 October 1964 (age 61) | ||||||
| Alma mater |  PLA Air Force Changchun Flight College | ||||||
| Awards | August 1 Medal | ||||||
| Space career | |||||||
| PLAAC Taikonaut and Commander | |||||||
Previous occupation | PLAAFfighter pilot, director of navigation | ||||||
| Rank | Major general,PLASSF | ||||||
Time in space | 111 days, 14 hours and 13 minutes | ||||||
| Selection | Chinese Group 1 | ||||||
TotalEVAs | 1 | ||||||
Total EVA time | 5h 55m[1] | ||||||
| Missions | Shenzhou 6,Shenzhou 10,Shenzhou 12 | ||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 聂海胜 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 聶海勝 | ||||||
| Literal meaning | Nie Sea-Victory | ||||||
| |||||||
Nie Haisheng (born 13 October 1964[2]) is amajor general of the ChinesePeople's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force (PLASSF) in active service as antaikonaut and the third commander (unit chief) of thePLA Astronaut Corps (PLAAC). He was aPLA Air Forcefighter pilot and director of navigation.
Nie flew onShenzhou 6 and served as commander on both theShenzhou 10 andShenzhou 12 missions, the latter of which became the first crew to visit theTiangong space station. In 2021, with a combined 111 days in space, he set a new record for longest stay in space by a Chinese astronaut, becoming the first to exceed 100 days and is one of only two Chinese astronauts to have flown three times.[3]
Nie was born on 8 September 1964[4][5] in a rural village inYangdang Town ofZaoyang County,Xiangyang City,Hubei Province to a family of farmers.
After graduating from high school he joined thePeople's Liberation Army Air Force in June 1983, and became afighter pilot. He trained at the PLAAF Seventh Flight Academy (nowPLAAF Aviation University) and graduated in 1987.[6][7]
On 12 June 1989 while flying at 13,000 feet (4000 m) his plane suffered an explosion and he lost his engine. The plane began to spin to the ground and the cabin began to heat up. Trying to regain control, he waited until the plane was 1300 to 1700 feet (400 to 500 meters) before choosing toeject. For his handling of the situation he was honored with third-class merit.[citation needed]
Prior toShenzhou 10, Nie had attained the rank of Major General.[8]
In January 1998, he was selected for the Chinese spaceflight program and was one of three candidates who were part of the final group to train for theShenzhou 5 flight, China's first crewed spaceflight.Yang Liwei was picked for the flight, withZhai Zhigang ranked second ahead of Nie.[6]
Nie went into orbit, along withFei Junlong (commander), as flight engineer of theShenzhou 6 flight on 12 October 2005. The mission lasted just under five days.
He was selected to be the commander of the backup crew for theShenzhou 9 mission.[9] In 2013, Nie was selected to command theShenzhou 10 second crewed space mission to the Chinese prototype space stationTiangong 1.[10] He became the first officer to hold general rank at the time of their launch in the Chinese space program with the Shenzhou 10 mission.[11]
Nie was chosen in December 2019 for his third spaceflight,Shenzhou 12, which lifted off on 17 June 2021 on the first crewed mission to theTiangong space station.[12] Nie conducted his firstspacewalk outside the station on 20 August 2021.[13]
He is married to Nie Jielin (聂捷琳) and they have a daughter named Nie Tianxiang (聂天翔).[14] During the Shenzhou 6 mission he celebrated his 41st birthday in space.
TheAsteroid9517 Niehaisheng was named after him.
