Jing was one of the six trainees for the Shenzhou 6 mission.
Jing, along with Liu Boming and Zhai Zhigang were selected for the prime crew on Shenzhou 7 on September 17, 2008. On September 25, 2008, at 21:10 CST, they launched into space as the first three-man crew for China aboard China's third human spaceflight mission.