The two successful extravehicular activities during China's Shenzhou-18 mission are attributable to thorough preparations like targeted trainings for astronauts, and sophisticated coordination between crew members and ground control team, said Li Guangsu, a member of Shenzhou-18 crew at a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday.
Li Guangsu, together with the other two Shenzhou-18 members, Ye Guangfu and Li Cong, made their first public appearance since returning from China's Tiangong space station two months ago.
During their mission, the three astronauts carried out two extravehicular activities, supported several cargo entries and exits, and conducted dozens of scientific experiments.
"I'm happy and proud to be able to conduct a spacewalk in my first spaceflight mission. Since China's space station was fully constructed and entered a stage of operation and development, avoiding space debris, strengthening the overall protection of the space station, and maintaining its safety have drawn attentions from all sides. So, we conducted targeted underwater and virtual reality trainings on the ground to increase physical exercise. Through in-orbit training, we knew better of operations in a zero-gravity environment," said Li.
"During the mission, under the scientific guidance of the ground extravehicular expert team and the direction and the arrangement of the commander, our crew coordinated well with our ground colleagues. We regard the national interest as paramount, and we were always strict with ourselves and held ourselves to the highest standards and dared not slack off a bit. As we maintained a high sense of responsibility for the space program throughout the mission, we made sure that we were fully prepared for the tasks, operated with extreme care each time, and strengthened checks. When each part of the work was fully prepared, the success followed naturally," he said.
Successful spacewalks attributable to good preparation, coordination: astronaut
