China's first astronaut in space Yang Liwei has expressed confidence in the Shenzhou-18 crew which took off on Thursday for a six-month mission in orbit aboard China’s Tiangong space station.
Shenzhou-18 astronauts Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu will soon take over command of the space station from the Shenzhou-17 crew, and carry out more than 90 experiments, two to three extravehicular activities (EVAs), and implement six cargo outbound deliveries via the station's cargo airlock module during their stay in space.
Yang talked about the good chemistry of the three-man crew and commented on their strengths in an interview with Phoenix TV at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province.
"Guangfu is an astronaut with composure, does things very steadily. So he's serving as commander, in charge of the safety of the mission and the overall planning. Li Cong is a high-spirited astronaut, which shows on the sport fields, on the basketball courts. He is also like that in training. He learns rather fast about the handling staff. Guangsu was, like others, selected from air force pilots. So he has fine qualities for flying. In this sense, the three of them are quite complementary to one another," Yang said.
Now serving as deputy chief designer of China's Manned Space Program, Yang also said watching other astronauts going to space feels different from his own space journey.
"It's first of all a state of being active and passive. I flew about 21 years ago. Back then you were sitting in the spaceship mounted on a rocket, which was a passive state, where you thought more about the job or the mission (that had been handed to you). Now watching our colleagues fly is like working from another perspective, at a different dimension, to see how to do our job better and ensure their safety," Yang said.
Yang also said that dwindling public interest in China's launches is a sign of progress as the nation's space program matures.
"People used to applaud every procedure made in a launch like the opening of the fairing or stage separations. Now after seeing a lot of these, and as our technology matures, people will likely just applaud when we announce the successful entry to orbit. It's a change of mindset that reflects development through the years. Our project increasingly matures, and we’ve gone past the experimental stage and entered the application stage. So this is a very good sign," Yang said.
China's first astronaut expresses confidence in Shenzhou-18 crew
