I faced a race against time to become a pioneer
Jing Haipeng, 51, one of the first generation of Chinese astronauts
I was born to a poor family in rural Shanxi province. When I was in middle school, I saw a photo of some People's Liberation Army Air Force pilots training in their fighter jets and wished I could be like them.
I joined the PLA Air Force when I was 18, and served as a fighter pilot for seven years. In 1998, I became one of the 14 first-generation astronauts and started to receive stringent training.
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