Flying high: Shenzhou-11 astronaut Chen Dong
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E-mail China.org.cn, October 27, 2016
Several weeks ago, Chen Dong was known only by a few. But on Oct. 17, that changed overnight as he became part of the duo of astronauts aboard the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft.
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Chen Dong |
Chen, 38 years old, was born in 1978 to a working-class family in Luoyang City, central China's Henan Province. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1999 and was recruited as an astronaut in 2010. In June this year, he was selected as one of the two-person crew for the Shenzhou-11 manned space mission.
Chen’s space dream was sparked by China’s first astronaut Yang Liwei. When Chen was first recruited into the Chinese air force in 2003, Yang was carried aloft by the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft. Yang used to be a combat aircraft pilot as Chen was at that time, so he made up his mind to be an astronaut too, with the hope of flying into higher altitudes to find out how it would feel when beyond the atmosphere.
In 2009, Chen became one of the candidates for China’s second batch of astronauts. “My generation is lucky,” he said. “All the crucial moments in my life coincided with the major progress of my country.”
During Chen’s astronaut recruitment process, much to his surprise, it was his idol Yang who interviewed him. Chen said he would never forget the one-hour conversation with Yang. "It made me more determined to pursue my dream," he said. "What would it make me happier than being led into a team under the guidance of my idol?"
But it took another six years for Chen to finally make his debut in space. "It's like a combination of a marathon and a sprint, and you need both perseverance and explosive force at the same time," Chen said.
During the six years, he secluded himself from the outside world and devoted all his time to pick up aerospace knowledge. In just two years’ time he had passed all the exams of 58 major courses.
"The selection of Chen was inevitable," said Huang Weifen, deputy chief designer of Astronaut Center of China. In Huang's eyes, Chen excelled in every aspect. He was not only the top scorer from the primary selection to the final; his ability to achieve mastery through a comprehensive study of the subject surprised even the instructors.
"I am the best person for the Shenzhou-11 mission," Chen said. When compared with his peers, especially Ye Guangfu, who completed a European Space Agency (ESA) underground training mission in Italy in July, Chen, while lauding his excellence, said, "Crew members are selected for being the most suitable for each mission."
Chen is now working in space with another one of his idols -- Jing Haipeng, the first Chinese astronaut to have flown on three space missions; Shenzhou-7, Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-11. In an interview days before the final launch of Shenzhou-11, Chen said, “I was brought into the space mission team by one of my idols, and I will be in space with another one of my idols. Is there anything luckier and happier?”
Along with Jing, Chen will work for 30 days in the Tiangong-2 space lab. While the space mission itself is daunting, the two astronauts also have to be "good pilots," "good scientists" and even "doctors," "biologists" and "farmers." They even grow vegetables for experiments.
To fulfill the scientific research tasks, Chen and Jing completed more than 3,000 hours of training. The tight schedule left him little time to spend with his five-year-old twin sons. So whenever he was available, he would stay with the kids and tell stories to them.
Astro Boy is the kids’ favorite story. Chen told them that their daddy is just like the robot hero, and can fly up high in the sky. Before heading out for the 33-day space mission, Chen said to his twin sons, "Dad is going out for a while. When you look up at the sky and see a shining star, I am probably there, so say hi to me."
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