Profile | Meet Liu Yang, China’s first woman in space, mother of 2, as she discusses intricacies of balancing career and family
- Only female Shenzhou 9 crew member in 2012 opens up on space career
- Marries PLA pilot, has 2 children, expresses gratitude for family’s support
China’s first woman in space, Liu Yang, has shared insights into managing the delicate balance between her career and family commitments in a recent interview.
Liu, 45, was asked how she managed to juggle looking after her nine-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son alongside her high-flying profession, in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV).
It is a “false proposition”, she said.
“I cannot balance my career and my family by myself. My husband and parents have my back so that I can fly higher and further,” Liu said.
“Such questions should not be put just to mothers and wives.”
Her answers resonated on mainland social media. In particular, with female observers.
“I was surprised that a woman is asked such a question no matter how successful she is. Liu’s answer speaks for so many women,” one person said.
Liu became the first Chinese woman in space in 2012, as a crew member of Shenzhou 9. In 2022, she returned as one of the Shenzhou 14 astronauts.
In the decade between, Liu became a mother of two, achieved a doctoral degree in sociology from China’s prestigious Tsinghua University, and was part-time vice-president of the All-China Women’s Federation.
She had married fellow People’s Liberation Army Air Force pilot, Zhang Hua, in 2004. They put their plans to have a child on hold when Liu decided to become an astronaut in 2010.
Born in 1978, Liu is the only child of a working-class family in central China’s Henan province.
In her final year of secondary school, the PLA Air Force came to her city to recruit pilots. Liu’s teacher, Wu Qiuyue, signed her up.
Being a pilot had not been her dream, but Liu began aspiring to become an astronaut when a university teacher told the class about the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova.
“Chinese women should go into space, as China is where Chang’e – the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology – is from,” she said.
When preparing for the Shenzhou 14 mission, Liu’s training involved practising each task hundreds of times to ensure every mission was perfectly executed.
During a 48-hour desert survival training session, the two male crew members Chen Dong and Cai Xuzhe, offered to carry more weight, but Liu declined.
“Space will not treat you nicely because you are a woman,” she said.
Liu continues to make empowering speeches about the female contribution to scientific progress, and encourages women to challenge gender stereotypes.
She has also expressed gratitude to her family’s support on many occasions.
Her husband accompanied her to daily physical training and cared for her hospitalised mother while Liu carried on with the space mission.
He also comforted her when she worried she might not return safely to Earth.
Zhang wrote Liu a card for her to read on her birthday during her second space mission, which lasted for 183 days.
“We can’t celebrate your birthday with you, but some people are destined to belong to a world larger than their family, and you are one of them. Wherever the spaceship flies, our love flies with you,” he wrote.
