China's first spaceman Yang Liwei has recounted many new stories about his
eight years of astronaut training.
Speaking at the ongoing 36th Committee on Space Research Scientific Assembly,
Yang told Chinese youth that "Each astronaut training facility is equipped with
an alarm. If the trainee feels uncomfortable, he can just press the stop button.
However, since our Chinese astronaut brigade was established in 1998, no one has
ever used the function."
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Yang Liwei in training in October, 2003. [file
photo]
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"Spaceflight is a very hard job, but it is also a job that makes us feel very
proud," said Yang, who carried out China's first space mission, Shenzhou-5, in
October 2003.
The 413th Earth man to enter outer space, Yang had previously flown 1,350
hours in fighter planes over a period of 15 years. After a selection process
lasting two years, Yang became an astronaut.
Astronaut training in Russia was very harsh, Yang said. Once two Chinese
astronauts training in Russia's Arctic area had to brave temperatures of minus
52 Celsius temperature for three days, in order to test their survival
abilities.
Each trainee's food was supplied by quota, but the Chinese managed to save
one day's food from the Arctic. "Why?" he said. "Because they wanted to bring it
back for our research."
In reply to a question from a member of the audience, Yang denied that
Chinese space vehicles are copies of the Soviet Soyuz. "To meet the requirements
of the space environment, all spaceships are similar in shape," he answered. "It
is a matter of technological development and has nothing to do with copying," he
said.
When Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin traveled in space for the first time in
human history, gravity was nine times his own weight.
For Yang during his Shenzhou-5 flight, it was only four times his own weight,
which almost any person in good health can tolerate.
