Chen Dong

Chen Dong was born in December 1978 in Luoyang, Henan Province. His family was associated with Luoyang Copper Processing Group Material Allocation Co., Ltd. (formerly Luoyang Copper Processing Plant), where both his parents worked. Because he was born in winter, his parents named him “Dong” (meaning “winter”). He is the second son and in early childhood was mistakenly raised as a daughter because his parents had hoped for another girl.

He spent his childhood mainly in the Luotong 34th neighborhood in Jianxi District, Luoyang, living in a two-bedroom apartment. Growing up in a factory-worker family, Chen was active as a child and often organized peers for outdoor activities like soccer. In third grade he took responsibility for stepping on vegetables a teacher had distributed and, guided positively by his homeroom teacher, his academic performance improved thereafter and he served as a class officer.

In middle school, an evening sky observation and his brother’s explanation sparked his interest in artificial satellites and space. In 1991 he entered the Luoyang Copper Processing Plant Middle School (now Luoyang No. 22 Middle School) and was elected class monitor thanks to good interpersonal skills, a position he held for six consecutive years. In high school he won second prize in a Luoyang city mathematics competition and performed well in school athletics meets.

In 1996 Luoyang began recruiting pilot candidates, which influenced his interest in a flying career. In 1997, encouraged by family and teachers, Chen applied for pilot selection and passed the first two medical examinations. He faced vision-related issues during the third medical in Jinan but persisted with preparation. In the college entrance examination he scored 630, well above the pilot admission line, and was ultimately admitted to the Air Force Changchun Flight Academy (now PLA Air Force Aviation University).

At the flight academy Chen trained intensively in physical fitness and military discipline, repeatedly exercising until he became a squad leader, and he achieved excellent flight results. He graduated in 1999 with a degree in fighter flight and command and completed his first flight training. In April 1999 he joined the Communist Party of China.

After graduation in 2001 Chen was assigned to an air force unit where he flew the JJ-6 trainer and the Q-5 aircraft. Inspired by Yang Liwei’s first manned spaceflight in 2003, he set his sights on becoming an astronaut. When the second round of astronaut selection began in 2009 he was serving in northwest China and could not return to his unit in time for the initial selection; when a supplementary recruitment opened later that year he entered the selection process and performed excellently in the assessments.

On May 7, 2010, Chen Dong was officially named as a member of China’s second group of astronauts and then underwent six years of systematic training at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center, including astronautical theory, professional skills, and physical and psychological adaptation training.

On October 16, 2016, Chen flew on the Shenzhou XI mission as one of the crew, completing a 33-day mission that set a Chinese record for single-mission time in orbit. The crew handled multiple challenges, including communications faults; Chen cooperated actively and the team returned safely.

Subsequently he continued to achieve breakthroughs in spaceflight. He served on the Shenzhou XIV and Shenzhou XX missions, acting as commander of Shenzhou XIV and becoming China’s second astronaut to exceed 200 days cumulative time in orbit. In 2025 Chen was designated commander of the Shenzhou XX mission, leading the team in numerous on-orbit tasks including extravehicular activities, equipment commissioning, and scientific experiments, demonstrating professional competence and responsibility.