Deng at 53 is actually the 2nd oldest on the crew. The commander Fei Junlong is 57. He's story is a lot like Alan Shepard in that he was also one of the first batch of five taikonauts. He got to fly on the 2nd CNSA manned mission Shenzhou 6 as the commander back in 2005. Now 17 years later he's commander again for Shenzhou 15 and the oldest taikonaut in the corp. He also holds the highest rank among all current taikonauts as a major general in PLASSF.

Alan Shepard had a 10 year gap between Freedom 7 and Apollo 14.