A 42-year-old fighter pilot,Zhai Zhigang is well-known for Chinese first man to walk in space.He was born in October 1966 in a small community near the town of Qiqihar in northern Heilongjiang province near the border with Russia.When he was a boy his illiterate mother would spend all day selling sunflower seeds on the streets to make enough money to pay for an education for her children.Zhai became a fighter pilot and has clocked up some 1,000 hours of flight time in his career.Zhai Zhigang holds the rank of colonel in the People's Liberation Army.