Xinhua News Agency, Jiuquan, April 23, Title: Chasing Dreams and Starting a New Journey - Recording the Shenzhou 20 Astronaut Crew

　　Li Guoli, Zhan Kang, Huang Yichen

　　When the spring breeze once again blew green the northwest Gobi Desert, when the thousand-year-old poplar euphratica by the Ruoshui River once again blossomed tender leaves, and when people's eyes once again focused on Dongfeng Space City, the Shenzhou 20 manned flight mission began-

　　At 11:00 on April 23, three astronauts carrying out this mission made their first public debut. Chen Dong serves as the commander and is the first astronaut to fly three times among the second batch of astronauts in my country. The aerospace pilot Chen Zhongrui and the flight engineer Wang Jie, who realized their dream of flying for the first time, are both the third batch of astronauts in my country.

　　The day they rushed to Tianyu was determined by the mission headquarters to be 17:17 on April 24.

　　55 years ago, my country's first artificial satellite, "Dongfanghong-1", was launched on this day, playing the prelude to the Chinese nation's exploration of space; 10 years ago, the State Council approved the establishment of this day as "China Space Day", and China's aerospace has its own festival since then.

　　Chasing dreams and starting a new journey, it is hard to write about painting.

　　Since the Chinese nation’s dream of flying in 2003 has been realized, 26 flying heroes have appeared in Wentian Pavilion. They have set out for their motherland again and again, marked the Chinese people’s exploring unknown new heights in space again and again, and fulfilled the solemn oath of “willing to fight for the cause of manned space for life” with practical actions, and constantly wrote a glorious chapter of the new era in the history of the Chinese nation’s progress.

　　Chen Dong: my country's first second batch of astronauts to fly three times

　　Chen Dong was still excited when he flew for the third time.

　　"Every space journey is unique, and we look forward to gaining more experience and breakthroughs through flights," he said.

　　On October 17, 2016, Chen Dong realized his dream of flying and ushered in his first space journey.

　　When the fairing was just opened, he looked out the porthole and couldn't help but exclaim: "Wow! It's very beautiful!"

　　Instruction Changjing Haipeng immediately asked: "Are you happy?"

　　Chen Dong said: "It's very beautiful."

　　Jing Haipeng asked again: "I'll ask if you feel good?"

　　Chen Dong replied with a smile: "It's great!"

　　That year, Chen Dong was 38 years old.

　　At that time, he was still like a young novice, his eyes flashed with infinite longing for the universe, and his every move was filled with great enthusiasm.

　　In 2022, Chen Dong received another chance to fly and served as the commander to lead the team to the battle for the first time. "This time, the body and blood also have space memories, and there is basically no discomfort," he said.

　　This is the first manned flight during the construction stage of China's space station.

　　During the 183 days of life in space, Chen Dong and his teammates experienced 9 combination configurations, 5 rendezvous and docking, 2 separation and evacuation and 2 transfer missions, and fully completed the construction of a space station with the Tianhe core cabin, the Wentian Experimental Cabin and the Mengtian Experimental Cabin as the basic configuration, creating many "first" in China's manned space history, and is known as the "busiest crew".

　　On November 17, 2022, the Shenzhou No. 14 crew carried out its third out-of-cabin event. This is the first time that the space station has been discharged after the assembly of the basic configuration of the "T" character, and the first time that the large and small robotic arms are "combined" to cooperate.

　　That day, Chen Dong stood on the robotic arm, with vast space above his head and space station and earth under his feet. Quietly, he was in the middle of it, feeling an unprecedented visual impact.

　　"I saw the spectacular whole picture of the space station." Chen Dong recalled that the space station slowly flew around the earth's home. The blue sea and white clouds decorated the earth as beautiful as blue and white porcelain, "a sense of pride arises naturally."

　　He said he was proud of the crew, the millions of aerospace science and technology workers, and even more proud of the great motherland.

　　Chen Dong’s WeChat avatar is a photo of Zhang Weimei, and one will be changed every once in a while. These photos were taken from the porthole during his mission.

　　When he returned from space, Chen Dong was obsessed with the starry sky, "It turned out that he wanted to go to space, but now he wanted to go to space even more."

　　In 2024, Chen Dong was selected into the Shenzhou No. 20 crew and served as the commander again. He was accompanied by two new teammates who had their first flight.

　　"I will do my best and concentrate, and lead the crew to complete all the established tasks with more sophisticated professional qualities." Facing the reporter, he was calm and composed.

　　Chasing the sky, chasing the galaxy three times.

　　For Chen Dong, what time has accumulated is not only the several silver threads on the temples, but also the calmness of lifting weights.

　　According to the plan, this task includes both complex out-of-cabin activities and meticulous experimental operations, and faces challenges such as daily maintenance and maintenance.

　　Once the passenger group was established, Chen Dong and the teacher team tailored the characteristics of the passenger group and the task, formulated personalized training plans, scientifically planned the course order based on the task priority, and increased the training frequency for weak links.

　　"Our crew adheres to the concept of "only space can be able to handle more hands on the ground; only when the ground can we try our best can we deal with it." Chen Dong said.

　　During those days in space, whenever the busy work of the day was over, Chen Dong would always lie by the porthole and stare at the earth, searching for the outline of the motherland.

　　"When I look at the motherland, I feel that the motherland is also gazing at me. We are like kites, no matter how high or far, the other end of the line is always tightly held in the hands of the motherland." Chen Dong said, "The motherland sends me to space, and I guard the heavenly palace for the motherland."

　　 Chen Zhongrui: A space pilot who dreams of being a tractor driver

　　Through the huge arc-shaped glass, aerospace pilot Chen Zhongrui calmly waved to Chinese and foreign journalists, with a gentle smile on his face.

　　Wentian Pavilion, the Jiuquan satellite launch center, became his starting point for realizing his dream of flying. The starting point of his life dream is to return to his hometown, a place called Chen Dazhao Village, Hua County, Henan Province.

　　When he was a child, Chen Zhongrui's dream was to be a tractor driver. When he first learned to walk, he climbed onto the tractor staggeringly and learned to operate it with an adult in a manner. When he was in elementary school, he felt itchy when he watched the adults drive a tractor to fight the wheat harvested. At that time, his feet were just able to get on the accelerator, and the adults were afraid of danger and refused to let him drive, and he was so aggrieved that he burst into tears.

　　During the summer vacation of the year after graduating from junior high school, an accidental opportunity made him plant the dream of flying in his heart. He thought, wouldn’t flying a plane in the air be more impressive than driving a tractor on the ground?

　　I heard that Zhaofei has high requirements for physical fitness. In three years of high school, Chen Zhongrui had to get up half an hour early to run at the playground every day, and also trained with sports students... In September 2003, Chen Zhongrui was admitted to the former Air Force Changchun Flight Academy and became a flight student as he wished.

　　After nearly two years of intense and solid study and training, Chen Zhongrui ushered in his first flight experience in his life.

　　That day, Chen Zhongrui flew a fighter plane above the white clouds. The plane did not swing and deviated under his control, and flew out a steady track.

　　Later, he was the first of the same batch of flight students to fly solo.

　　One day in November 2003, snowflakes were floating in the sky. The school notified that all students would gather in front of the auditorium.

　　After a while, a group of people surrounded a vigorous soldier passing by him - aerospace hero Yang Liwei went to the school to give a report.

　　That year, Yang Liwei rode the Shenzhou V manned spacecraft into space, and the Chinese nation's thousand-year-old dream of flying was realized.

　　"This is my first time to get involved in astronauts," said Chen Zhongrui.

　　Ten years later, he once again had an intersection with the astronauts. "When Shenzhou 10 returned to Earth, I was performing a training mission in the air and received an order to clear the airspace to welcome the astronauts home."

　　These two experiences made Chen Zhongrui feel a little deeper in his heart when flying - fly higher, fly higher, and rush out of the atmosphere to experience the vast space.

　　In 2018, the selection of the third batch of astronauts in my country was officially launched. Chen Zhongrui signed up without hesitation and made his dream a reality through strict selection.

　　From the sky to space, from pilots to astronauts, Chen Zhongrui suffered every step of hardship and was sad.

　　After completing more than 30 theoretical courses within one year, it is very difficult for him to return to class in his 30s. "There are also many professional courses such as thermodynamics and orbital mechanics, which are completely unfamiliar to me."

　　When he was a pilot, he was used to memorizing the operating manuals and then doing them. But as an astronaut, not only should I compare the manual step by step, but even the crew must work together in accordance with the manual division of labor to ensure that every step and every operation is accurate. He had to make great efforts to change his thinking and operating habits he had developed before, and eliminate the muscle memories he had been imprinted on his body after working tirelessly.

　　Follow this hard journey to reach the sky. Through adversity, reach the stars.

　　After being selected as the Shenzhou No. 20 crew, Chen Zhongrui knew very well that every operation and every detail in space was related to the success or failure of the mission, and ground training should be no shortage. During every large-scale experiment and major operation, Chen Zhongrui strives for excellence and pursues the ultimate. He memorizes the task process and operation manual repeatedly and memorizes it in his heart, deduces it over and over again, and practices over and over again.

　　Instructor Chen Dong commented on him: "Good psychological quality, calm and calm. It is quick to operate and move every step, which is very stable and reassuring."

　　Over the years, whether as a fighter pilot or an astronaut, Chen Zhongrui can still find the joy from his childhood when operating machinery: "This is a natural feeling, the more complicated the things you operate, the more excited you are."

　　On April 24, Chen Zhongrui and his teammates will sail to the Chinese "space home" on the Shenzhou spacecraft. This space pilot, who wanted to be a tractor pilot and later became a fighter pilot, will fly higher and higher this spring and soar above the nine heavens.

　　Wang Jie: Aerospace Flight Engineer from Manufacturing Spacecraft to Cycling Spacecraft

　　Bayannur, Inner Mongolia, means "rich lake" in Mongolian. For thousands of years, agricultural civilization and nomadic civilization have collided here, giving birth to a "bridge to the south of the Yangtze River".

　　Wang Jie was born in a small village in the front banner of Urat, Bayannur City.

　　In October 2003, astronaut Yang Liwei returned from the sky and landed on the grassland of Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia. Wang Jie, who was a middle school student, heard about the profession of astronaut for the first time and began to develop curiosity and longing for the flying career.

　　In 2018, the third batch of astronaut selection work was launched. This time, according to the space station mission requirements, the selection scope was further expanded, not only to select space pilots from air force pilots, but also to select space flight engineers and payload experts from relevant research institutes and universities. This is the first time in our country.

　　At this time, Wang Jie had graduated from graduate school and became a scientific researcher at the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

　　Feeling that he met the requirements in all aspects, Wang Jie signed up to participate in the selection. He performed well in clinical medical examinations, aerospace environment adaptability endurance, psychological tests and other layers of selection. He successfully passed the primary, re-selected and selected selection. In September 2020, he officially became the space flight engineer among the third batch of astronauts in my country.

　　The challenge came as expected.

　　After 3 kilometers of physical measurement, Wang Jie landed behind as he ran, and was soon "involved" by the same group of astronauts who were born as Air Force pilots.

　　"Although it's not the last one, it's also the last one." Wang Jie still felt embarrassed when he mentioned this.

　　Simulating weightless sink out-of-cabin training is even more difficult for Wang Jie. He needs to wear an underwater training suit, control his body's posture with both hands, complete out-of-cabin transfer, upper and lower robotic arms, equipment assembly and other operations. The training lasts for five or six hours at a time, and the physical exhaust can be imagined.

　　"What impressed me the most was the pin limiter. I was not familiar with the position and couldn't grasp the angle of force, so it was very difficult to complete." After leaving the sink, Wang Jie finally realized the feeling of force removal of "hands are so shaking that they can't hold the chopsticks."

　　Not only do you need to know how to operate, but you also need to understand the principles behind it. Wang Jie has high requirements for himself, "I hope to achieve the status of an 'expert astronaut', and I know whatever I ask."

　　But what he could not have imagined was that this actually became a roadblock.

　　Looking at the same flight manual, Wang Jie, as a space flight engineer, often couldn't help but think about the principle behind the operation steps. However, while he was still reading the manual line by line, his teammates who were a space pilot had already completed the operation.

　　In fact, this is the difference in thinking and operating experience caused by different professions.

　　In order to keep pace with his teammates, Wang Jie often practices himself. The manual rendezvous and docking, known as "Tied a needle in space," is a difficult point. He first practices basic operations, then practices conditional practices. He becomes more proficient when he practices too much, and his grades gradually stabilize.

　　Although there are now various electronic devices such as tablets that can be used to make records, he still prefers handwriting. He has made more than ten notes, five or six of which are commonly used, and he has carried them with him during training.

　　"People's memory is limited. After learning things once or twice, you will forget them after a while." Wang Jie said, "I have always regarded myself as a stupid person. I insist on trying to use unfamiliar things every once or after a while."

　　After more than four years of hard training, Wang Jie was successfully selected into the Shenzhou 20 astronaut crew.

　　On April 24, his flying dream will come true. He said that he couldn't wait to experience the feeling of weightlessness and could not wait to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Earth's home from the perspective of space...

　　Of course, his biggest expectation is to complete the flight mission smoothly, manage and use it well, maintain the "space home".

　　This time, Wang Jie still brought his notebook, wanting to write down all his experiences and feelings such as "the place that is different from the sky and the ground" and "the place that can be optimized and improved".

　　This time, he is also preparing to pack his family's photos into bags. My son is only 3 and a half years old now. "My son's personality follows me. My expectation for him is to be a dignified person."

　　This is Wang Jie's simplest expectation for his son, and it is also what Wang Jie's father once expected of him.

　　The taciturn father never walked out of the village in his life. He just stood there and watched his son study, study, work, and get married. He became an astronaut step by step and flew to the vast sky step by step.

　　To this day, he is still grateful to his parents for their "free-raised" education: "They made me understand hardships and responsibility."

　　Yes, the family gives Wang Jie a down-to-earth motivation, and the motherland lights up Wang Jie’s dream of looking up at the stars. As he said at the meeting of Chinese and foreign media reporters - looking back at the journey I came from, my deepest understanding is: life must have dreams, when personal dreams are renowned and connected with national development and strive for them, every effort will shine brightly.

[Editor in charge: Chen Tingyu]