Yang Liwei, PhD, is a special-class astronaut, member of the Communist Party of China, Deputy Director General of China's manned space program,  member of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and Major General. He is the first generation of astronauts trained in China as well as the first Chinese astronaut sent into the space. In 2003, he was named one of the 10 Outstanding Youth in China. In 2009, he became one of the 100 persons who have touched China since the establishment of PRC in 1949. In 2018, Yang, along with other astronauts, received the title Model of the Times.