On the occasion of International Childhood Day celebrated on June 1, the Shenzhou-20 crew, aboard the Chinese space station, addressed the children of the country.
While the ninth National Congress of Young Pioneers of China (JPC), a national organization for children, opened on Tuesday in Beijing, the crew sent its congratulations to the Chinese children for this great event, deploying a JPC flag which they had brought aboard the space station.
The crew of three members, under the command of astronaut Chen Dong, was put into orbit on April 24 for a six -month mission.
Commander Chen Dong, triple veteran of space missions, spoke of his childhood dreams inspired by the Red scarf of the JPC. “I remember my decision, for the first time, to become a man useful to society,” said the astronaut.
The novice astronauts Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie, making their very first space flight, told how their juvenile curiosity for the cosmos had propelled them to this career.
Chen Zhongrui, who carried out his first extravalicular outing on May 22, remembered that, he watched the launches of the Shenzhou spaceships on television, a passion that stimulated his aspirations.
Mr. Wang mentioned the song of the JPC, a song that filled him with force during his childhood. He noted that he guides the generations of young Chinese pioneers to perpetuate the glorious traditions of their predecessors, hoping that the children will continue the mission of exploring space.
Since its orbit, the Shenzhou-20 crew has successfully transferred orbit with the Shenzhou-19 crew and has conducted scientific experiences in space as expected.
On May 22, the members of the Shenzhou-20 crew carried out their first extravalicular outing, thus establishing a record for the shortest period between the orbit of a crew of astronauts and its first outing in the space after the completion of the space station.
