Profile: Fei Junlong, veteran pilot flying much higher

This undated photo shows Fei Junlong, one of the three astronauts who will carry out the Shenzhou-15 spaceflight mission. Chinese astronauts Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu will carry out the Shenzhou-15 spaceflight mission, and Fei will be the commander, the China Manned Space Agency announced at a press conference on Monday. (Xinhua)

BEIJING, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- For a long time, Fei Junlong's mother did not know what her son was doing. "Still flying, but much higher than in the air force," said Fei.

In October 2005, Fei revealed to the world how high and how far he could be: touring outer space for almost five days in China's second crewed space mission, Shenzhou-6.

Today, he is ready to fly much longer, putting the final touches on China's space station under construction, as the commander of the Shenzhou-15 mission.

Born in May 1965, Fei is a native of Kunshan City in east China's Jiangsu Province. As the youngest child in the family, he did not expect that he could have the honor of becoming an astronaut piloting Shenzhou-6 as he dreamed about being a painter in his childhood.

In 1982, China's Air Force recruited trainees at Fei's high school when he was about to graduate. Fei was enrolled and kept in mind his father's words: "Once you make a choice, do a good job."

Two years later, Fei graduated from the Flight Training School of the Air Force with excellent marks. Then he served as a flight trainer initially and was appraised as outstanding in the whole Air Force. Later, he became a flight technology inspector and compiled an investigation report on flight accidents, named "Warning Signal Tolling."

In a trial flight in 1992, the aircraft being tested went short of fuel. With his outstanding flight skill, Fei managed to pilot the plane back to the airport. Upon the forced landing, the fuel was exhausted. His courage, skill, and cool nerves won him the highest grade of pilots at the age of 32.

In 1998, Fei was selected out of more than 1,500 elite pilots as a member of the astronaut brigade of the People's Liberation Army and recorded excellent marks in almost all training subjects.

"As soon as I close my eyes, I can imagine the position of all the instruments and switches in the cockpit of Shenzhou-6," said Fei.

His attention to details left a deep impression on his colleagues.

Fei can handle all types of complicated flight procedures and emergency response plans without checking his flight manual because he memorized every word of the 400,000-word manual.

Once the trainer asked how many error modes can lead to an abnormal condition, the given answer is five. Fei answered six and was later proved correct.

On the third day of the Shenzhou-6 mission, Fei wondered what he could do to reassure the ground control, families, and friends and put them at ease. He did four somersaults in a row, proving the spacecraft was in a stable and sound condition in a relaxed way.

In 2009, Fei was appointed as the director of the astronaut brigade. In 2018, he told Xinhua in an interview that he was happy to see that female astronauts Wang Yaping and Liu Yang could fly into space, and he would spare no effort to contribute to the construction of China's space station.

"I'm very proud to be on a mission again. I'm very excited to be stationed in China's space station. I'm proud of my great motherland," said Fei when he met the press on Monday for the upcoming mission.