Wang Yaping made history as the first Chinese woman to conduct a spacewalk This mission is not only China’s longest, but taikonaut Wang Yaping made history as the first Chinese woman to visit the Tianhe space station and also became the first Chinese woman to conduct a spacewalk.

As an Air Force pilot, she accumulated 1,600 flight hours before being selected as a taikonaut, as the Chinese call astronauts.

China launched its first satellite in 1970, while human spaceflight took decades longer – with Yang Liwei becoming the first “taikonaut” in 2003.

The first Chinese astronaut, or taikonaut, Yang Liwei, was launched in 2003.

The station was designed to be a testbed for robotic technologies, and it has seen multiple vehicle rendezvous, dockings, and taikonaut visits during its operational lifetime.