Zhang Xiaoguang is a Chinese pilot selected as part of the Shenzhou program. He was born in May 1966 in Jinzhou, to a family of Manchu ethnicity and was a squadron commander in the People’s Liberation Army Air Force when he was selected to be an astronaut in 1998. He had accumulated 1000 flight-hours as of 2004. He was selected as part of the backup crew for the Shenzhou 9 mission. In 2013, he was selected to fly Shenzhou 10, the third spaceflight to the first Chinese space station Tiangong 1.
This isthe fifth crewed mission for China's Shenzhou program which lasted 15 days. Shenzhou-10 began its mission by bringing Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping to the Tiangong-1 space station. During their 12-day stay at the station astronauts conducted space medicine and technological experiments, and Wang Yaping gave a lecture for over 60 million Chinese students. On 23 June undocked from the station and performed manual re-docking procedure, which was one of the objectives of the mission. On 25 June Shenzhou-10 undocked from the station and landed safely on the morning of the next day.
Low Earth OrbitThe China National Space Administration (CNSA) is the national space agency of the People's Republic of China. It is responsible for the national space program and for planning and development of space activities. CNSA and China Aerospace Corporation (CASC) assumed the authority over space development efforts previously held by the Ministry of Aerospace Industry. The CNSA has many launch sites around China with their orbital sites located in Jiuquan, Xichang, Taiyuan and Wenchang.