Wang was from the seventh batch of female military pilots in China,[7] one of 37 members, and graduated from Aviation University and flight school in 2001 with the rank of First Lieutenant.

[6] As a pilot with the Air Force's transport aircraft crew in Wuhan, she has participated in tasks such as combat readiness exercises, the Wenchuan Earthquake relief effort, and cloud seeding and weather modification[6] for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games to eliminate clouds and reduce rain.

After accumulating safe flights for 1600 hours, she was named Air Force Class II pilot.

[10] Wang Yaping was one of two women in space on the 50th anniversary of Vostok 6, the first spaceflight by a woman, Valentina Tereshkova.

[13] While aboard Tiangong-1, Wang conducted scientific experiments and taught a physics lesson to Chinese students by live television broadcast.

On 15 October 2021, the three Shenzhou 13 crewmembers arrived at the Tianhe space station module, hours after launch.

[2] Wang wore a new spacesuit, delivered to the station by the Tianzhou 3 cargo resupply craft in September.