Chinese astronauts shed light on space travel 太空人們的「漂浮」人生

For most people, being an astronaut can be one of the most awesome jobs in the world! Think about the following: rather than being stuck in the middle of the world’s chaos, you get to be an outsider and look at the enormous sphere from the tranquil and vast space. The magical moment will be etched in your memory for a life’s time – or so said those who made it.

 

But it takes years of tough training ahead of the trip, and no amount of dedication, skills and courage can ever be sufficient for the adventure. These Chinese spacemen, or Yuhangyuan, give their side of the story behind flying in space.

October 16, 2003 was a great and glorious day for China and a single man alike. When the country successfully launched its first manned spacecraft, Shenzhou 5, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Yang Liwei was on board.

 

Once in orbit, the Chinese astronaut completed the task of circling the earth 14 times, all within 21 hours, 22 minutes and 45 seconds, at an altitude between 332 and 336 kilometers above the earth. A little after midnight, he told mission control he felt "good," a simple message that assured the millions of Chinese hearts beating in sync that night.

Fei Junlong & Nie Haisheng The most unusual birthday

Two years after making its first foray into the realm of human space flight, Chinaonce again launched a manned spacecraft into the Earth’s orbit with asuccessful vessel that took off on October 12, 2005.

 

Dressed in spacesuits and seated in their Shenzhou 6 spacecraft, Chinese astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng left the earth behind to enter the orbit, where they conducted a series of observation and experiments inside the module.

On the second day of their five-day mission, Nie Haisheng celebrated the most unusual birthday of his life in the capsule, when he told his 11-year-old daughter Tianxiang from the sky, "It's marvelous around here. The earth looks beautiful."

Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng A small step in space is a huge one

The spaceship Shenzhou 7 blasted off on a Long March II-F carrier on September 25, 2008, with three pilots -- Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng on board.

 

The mission marked a milestone in China's space history with the first ever spacewalk by a Chinese astronaut.

 

Zhai Zhipeng stayed over 20 minutes in outer space, which was broadcast live and watched by millions of Chinese.

 

Zhai was seen struggling to open the door, waving to the camera mounted on the spaceship's service module, holding up the national flag, handing the test sample to his colleague and hobbling back to the module. His every move seemed to have taken the breath of all those sitting anxiously at the edge of their seats in front of their television sets.

Jing Haipeng, Liu Wang and Liu Yang First space docking, first flying woman

China once again sent three astronauts to space on June 16, 2012. Jing Haipeng, Liu Wang and Liu Yang aboard the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft completed the ambitious test mission that marked the country's first attempt to dock a manned spaceship in orbit.

 

What makes this flight even more memorable is the participation of the country’s first ever female astronaut, Liu Yang. A Chinese idiom acknowledges that 「women hold up half the sky,」 but Liu proved they could soar past it.

Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping

The fifth space crew, Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping rode into orbit on June 11, 2013.

 

This new space chapter for the Chinese represents the final occupation of the Tiangong-1 space module, and the participation of one more spacewoman, Wang Yaping. While in orbit, Wang delivered the country's first ever video lecture from space.

 

With the help of spinning tops, a ball, water and a fellow astronaut, she explained physics in zero-gravity spaces. She also described what she was seeing from space.

 

"The stars we see are much brighter, but they do not twinkle," she said, explaining this was due to the lack of Earth's obstructing atmosphere.

 

"The sky we see isn't blue, but black. And every day, we can see the sun rise 16 times because we circle the Earth every 90 minutes."

 

The vivid description captured the imagination of an estimated audience of 60 million students and teachers around China who watched the lecture live.

Following a three-year gap, China’s manned space mission once again took off on early Monday morning, with two astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen dong aboard the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft, who are scheduled to stay in the space lab for 30 days before returning to earth. Bucket up, astronauts!