in their eyes, this is the start point to sea of stars
balanced gravity
dream chasing continues
if endurance is the force up
they have the ultimate pursuit
they are Chinese astronauts
journey to the sea of stars
first meeting
this is the main character of story today (Wang Yaping, astronaut of Shenzhou-10 mission)
(Zhang Yang) Hello, Yaping. (Wang Yaping) hello, Zhang Yang
(Zhang Yang) Thank you for accepting our interview. (Wang Yaping) You are welcom.
(Zhang Yang) what's our first stop today?
(Wang Yaping) let's go under the water
(Zhang Yang) under the water? Sounds good
Underwater Training
(Zhang Yang) "Under the water" that Yaping mentioned referred to the simulated weightless environment in this pool
when spacecrafts orbit around earth you feel weightless
astronauts need to work outside of the spacecraft in the weightless environment
to assemble the stations or repair used parts
it is proven that under water weightless training is the most effective way astronauts could be trained on the ground
Yaping is preparing herself to go under water, we will wait here for her to come out
this place feels like a swimming pool with high temperature and high humidity
if you look into the pool, you will find cool things (station core module)
I was told by the staff here that this pool is 23 meters in diameter, 10 meters in depth
it could hold 4200 tonnes of water
this simulated weightless training pool is the largest one in Asia and second largest around the world
It was completed in 2007 for Shenzhou-7 EVA mission and future missions (like the station)
It's using the weight of lead bricks and water buoyancy of the space suits under water to simulate a quasi-real weightless environment for astronauts
(Zhang Yang) is this your first under water training this year？
(Wang Yaping) Yes, first time in 2021
(Zhang Yang) what's this, how do you use it
(Wang Yaping) I wear them inside the EVA suit because my feet are short, EVA shoes are too big for me
(Zhang Yang) so you added a case to change your size from 36 to 42 (EU size)
(Wang Yaping) this is my solution, (Zhang Yang) you prepared them for yourself
(Zhang Yang) what's the weight of this suit
(Wang Yaping) that's 120 kg
(Zhang Yang) 120 kg
(Staff) No.2 (Wang Yaping) is pre EVA-suit ready
(Staff) No.2 (Wang Yaping) backpack door closed
(Zhang Yang) Yaping is trying her EVA suit
(Zhang Yang) she enters the suit and adjusts the suitability between her body and the suit
under water training is hard because the EVA suits, counterweight and equipment are heavy
they have to operate with these suits, counterweight and equipment
besides online surveillance system
I just checked with them there are 7 divers under water to assist with the training
we are waiting for Yaping here
I feel so different to watch astronauts in training
remember in 2008 Zhai Zhigang floated out of Shenzhou-7 with the national flag in his hand and said "I am out of the craft and feel good"
he completed the first EVA mission of our nation
now when I recall his sentences I feel more about it
(Wang Yanlei, chief of astronauts recruit and training, China Astronauts Center) what I can't forget is the hard work of our astronauts
(Wang Yanlei) if it is a 5-hour task in space
usually we will do 50-hour under water training
the work/training ratio is from 1/8 to 1/10
each under water training lasts for 4 to 6 hours
for example
after one under water training
if it is a complicated work or it requires a lot of operations
astronauts lose about 1 to 2 kg after the training
since then, I deeply admire their hard work
they need to think about each steps
through exploration and training
to optimize their working procedures
Wang Yaping's underwater training was over 4 hours long
the red button
Due to huge consumption of physical strength
We met Yaping again 5 hours after she finished her training
(Zhang Yang) Yaping, nice to see you again (Wang Yaping) Hello, hi
(Zhang Yang) it must be tired after such a long training
(Wang Yaping) I am used to it
(Zhang Yang) what kind of training does this facility do
(Wang Yaping) this is centrifugal training area or the so called high-G endurance training
(Wang Yaping) when we launch to or return from space, our body have to undergo overload
therefore this training is very essential and necessary
look, when we train astronauts seat here
rotate around that axis
the centrifuge consists a 8-m long arm and simulated cockpit
centrifugal generated are usually represented by its ratio to gravity
e.g. 2G is twice the gravity
2G feels like when the compression experienced when you rush from the top of a hill to the bottom on a roller coaster
general population could survive 4G
astronauts like Yaping has to experience 8G overload training
(Wang Yaping) normally 8G training lasts for 30 seconds
during this training, your face will skew and you chest will feel hard to breath
your tears will flow out of your eyes uncontrollably
we often say tears over your face
you just can't control it throughout the training
once families of our members came to watch this training
they said they did not want to watch this again
because it was emotionally uncomfortable for them to continue watching
(Wang Yaping) there are two buttons here, (Zhang Yang)I see
(Wang Yaping) one is for our right hands to operate
the other is a red button
you could press the red button during the training if you don't feel comfortable to continue
but since the foundation of this astronaut team, nobody has ever pressed that red button
although we have to hold it within our palms
but deeply in our mind, it does not exist
under no condition will we press that red button
since being an astronaut, I have done things that I don't think I could do or do well but I did it and results looked good
that kind of breakthrough and happiness was splendid (background: from here to space)
(Wang Yaping) now we are onboard Tiangong-1 Space lab 300km above the surface
give them the same interference, it's quite interesting
mom that reaches stars
(Wang Yaping)therefore, there is a tiger, look
(Wang Yaping) once my daughter's teacher told me that my daughter cried during class because she missed her mom
she said her mom was in a spacecraft and she missed her mom
and she asked her teacher whether she could give her a hug
I didn't even know that she missed me so much and she hid that at home
but she must have felt sad (without mom always around her)
I felt she was such a sensible child at her age
In 2013 during Shenzhou-10 mission I did not have a child at that time
In the next mission I will tell my daughter
mom is going to bring stars back for you from outer space, wait for me
(Zhang Yang) time with Yaping was plentitude and unforgettable
In either her small family (with her daughter and husband) or big family with the astronauts
She always strives to show her love
at the end of the interview I asked her such a question
what kind of quality do you think it requires to be an astronaut
and her answer was
(Wang Yaping) we always say look up to the sky and keep your feet on the ground
you need to work hard faithfully to have the confidence to look up to the sky
actually we never calculated how many hours we trained each day
we all feel like we want to finish the training at a high level no matter how long it needs to continue
a lot of our training has to break the limits both physiologically and psychologically
general public may feel tired and don't want to practice any more and they might stop
but we can't
each time when I came out of a training session I was so satisfied because I did one more training and got closer to my dream
In our astronaut team, there is a saying, there is a life that if you never experienced you never know how hard it was
there is one kind of hardness you will never know the joy and happiness within it until you experienced it
there is a kind of happiness you will understand its true value until you had it
I think this is such an appropriate description of our life
Since became an astronaut over ten years ago
I have tried my best effort to enjoy the happiness of chasing a dream
(Zhang Yang) I just said goodbye to Yaping and she has returned to astronaut center, they will start a new round of closed training for new missions, we wish her best of luck
I am so happy to talk an astronaut like Yaping about her dreams, family, work and life
I also learned more about such an special group of people like astronauts
In the eyes of outsiders, they are the closest ones to stars and those could explore the outer space
but behind all these are tears, sweats, and even blood
for them, they have the ambition to look up to the stars
as well as the confidence to finish hard training
2021 is a busy year for the quickly developing Chinese Space
our steps to explore outer space will be faster and further
on the way to sea of stars are the shadow of our hard working space explorers like Yaping
(Chairman Xi Jingping's new year greetings of 2021)