He was born in a rural village in Kunshan, Jiangsu province of China to a family of farmers and was recruited from high school by the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) in 1982 at the age of 17.

He was in the final five selected for China's first crewed space flight, Shenzhou 5.

Fei is also a member of Shenzhou 15's 3-person crew on a 6-months mission to Tiangong space station.

[3][4] His father-in-law was a veteran of the Korean War and later became an aerospace researcher, and his mother-in-law was a teacher.

[3][4] His son Fei Di (费迪) is also a member of the Shenzhou spacecraft development team.