The work is addictive and always surprising

Bao Shuo, 30, the first female chief controller at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center

To me, the job of chief controller is challenging and exciting. It is all about exploration, and you will quickly become addicted and surprised as long as you can accept the challenges.

For example, during the Chang'e 5 robotic mission, we operated the probe in carrying out a number of sophisticated maneuvers that required great accuracy.

Under our guidance, the craft drilled and scooped up 1,731 grams of dust and brought the samples back to Earth.

They are being used for scientific studies and public exhibitions. What is remarkable is that some of them have been kept inside a special storage facility in Shaoshan, Hunan province, the city where Chairman Mao Zedong was born.

This was our answer to the chairman's expectations that we, the Chinese people, should go to the moon to explore it.

After decades of "running and catching up", we have finally placed our national flag on the moon and shown the world the power of our science and technology. I am proud to have been part of the mission.

During the Tianwen 1 Mars mission, we all knew that failure was highly likely, because previous attempts by other nations had proved that it is very difficult to safely land a craft on the Red Planet.

So, when we saw that the probe was moving in accordance with preset programs, then green lights on the computer screen began to twinkle and all the maneuvers were completed based on our plans, it just felt very, very cool and a little surreal. It was like we were flying an invisible kite and it had made it all the way to Mars.

Bao Shuo spoke with Zhao Lei.