21 January 2018
Taikonaut Zhang Xiaoguang prepared for 15 years to go into space. Zhang, one of the 14 pilots recruited as China's first batch of taikonauts, was 32 when he joined the Taikonaut Corps of People's Liberation Army at its founding in 1998. In order to pass the more than 30 fundamental courses that are required of every taikonaut, he wrote over 200,000 Chinese characters of study notes. He studied advanced mathematics, aerodynamics, astronomy, English, environmental science, medicine, psychology, space science and technology and many other theoretical courses, all in one year, a superhuman task equal to compressing a normal college student's four-year study plan into 12 months.
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22 January 2018
On an evening in November 2016, Deng Qingming went home to find his wife and his daughter had prepared a lavish spread of his favorite dishes and wine. He ran to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and, concealed by the sound of running water, cried like a baby. Deng is a taikonaut who has never been to space. He was backup to commander Jing Haipeng in Shenzhou-11 mission.
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22 January 2018
China will begin selection for the next generation of astronauts who will train to work on the country's planned space station, according to 22 January China Daily. Yang Liwei, deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency and the first Chinese astronaut in space, was quoted as saying the selection work will begin soon and that Chinese scientists and engineers will be eligible to apply. "We plan to select suitable candidates from space industry companies, research entities and universities and train them into engineers and payload specialists capable of working on the space station," he said during an open day at Beijing's Astronaut Center of China.
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23 January 2018
Chinese astronaut candidates have to undergo years of training before they can qualify for potential space flight. The extensive training program includes physical conditioning, buoyancy and G-force training, listening tests, medical training and other skills which are required for space flight. The short video by the Ministry of National Defense shows the training elements.
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