Cai Xuzhe, 48, a native of Hebei province, is a senior colonel and the mission commander of the Shenzhou XIX spaceflight.

He became a member of the People's Liberation Army Air Force in September 1995 and was a commander of a fighter jet unit and a first-grade aviator.

Cai was selected as one of the PLA Astronaut Division's second-generation astronauts in May 2010. He was a member of the backup crew for the Shenzhou XIII mission.

In June 2022, Cai started his first space expedition — the six-month Shenzhou XIV mission, becoming one of the third group of astronauts to inhabit the Tiangong space station.

In March 2023, he was given the honorary title Heroic Astronaut and was conferred with a Third-Grade Space Service Medal.

Cai is now a first-grade astronaut of the PLA Astronaut Division.