Chinese astronauts Jing Haipeng (right) and Chen Dong at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on October 17. (Photo/Xinhua)
China launched the Shenzhou XI manned spacecraft on Monday morning to transport two male astronauts -- 49-year-old Jing Haipeng and 37-year-old Chen Dong to the Tiangong II space laboratory.
Jing Haipeng, commander of Shenzhou XI, will spend his 50th birthday in space during the 30-day mission and break the age record of Chinese astronauts in service.
The mission is Jing's third spaceflight following his 68-hour Shenzhou VII mission in 2008 and 13-day Shenzhou IX mission in 2012, making him the first astronaut to enter the space thrice and holding the record of most hours spent in space by a Chinese.
His companion, Chen Dong, with a safe flight record of 1,500 hours as an air force pilot, was named one of China's second generations of astronauts in May 2010, and was selected as a crew member for the Shenzhou XI mission in June 2016.
'Totally believe in each other, but do not totally believe each other'
Jing is 12 years older and more experienced than zero-space-experience Chen. How do they cooperate with each other?
Chen said they have trained together for six years. "We spent more than 10 hours every day after being selected as crew members, far beyond the time we spent with our family members."
"Brother Jing once told me to totally believe in each other, but not totally believe each other," said Chen. "We believe in each other because our lives depend on each other," he said.
"But mistakes can happen in anything, he added, "we have to offer strengths to complement the others' weaknesses and make sure every action and every order is right."
Jing Haipeng was deeply impressed by Chen's professionalism. Once during training, when Jing was about to carry out a maneuver, Chen suddenly said "No 01, wait a moment please". Jing immediately realized that he had almost made a mistake.
"Although I am the commander and an older brother and Chen has to listen to me, he never obeys me blindly and stopped me tactfully," said Jing.
Jing and Chen call each other "brothers" in private, but "No 01" and "No 02" at work.
"After taking into consideration the current status and the future of the space team, we combined veteran astronaut with new astronaut," said Huang Weifen, deputy chief designer of Astronaut Center of China, adding that he hopes more veteran astronauts will carry out future missions.
Raise silkworms in space in experiment designed by HK students
One of the striking characteristics of Shenzhou XI mission is to perform many tests and experiments, dozens of which require astronauts to do them by themselves.
Raising silkworms is one of them. It is based on the design of Hong Kong students, who asks astronauts to observe whether silkworm will spin silk in space the way they spin on earth and whether they will cocoon themselves.
Jing and Chen therefore learned how to raise silkworms and Jing thinks it is very interesting.
They will also carry out some professional experiments, including scans of internal organs.
"I spoke with a doctor and he told me you need at least a year of training before you can conduct a B-scan on a patient," Jing said, referring to a technique in which structures of the body are visualized by recording echoes of ultrasonic waves directed into tissue. "We were trained for less than six months, and we're about to do it on our own bodies－with no gravity."
The resulting images and data will be sent back to headquarters for experts to analyze, he said, adding that the purpose is to see how the cardiovascular system is affected in a zero-gravity environment."
He said that one of the goals of Shenzhou XI mission is to evaluate astronauts' physical signs and living condition.
To finish all these tasks, astronauts underwent extensive training in operating scientific experiments. "We are not scientists, but we will realize scientists' ideas and goals through our hands," said Jing, adding that these tests and experiments will pave way for the long-term manned flight of space station in the future.
Meet family through VR technology
Three weeks before the mission, the family members of Jing and Chen still did not know anything.
Chen Dong has been a pilot for many years before joining the space team. He got acquainted with his wife several years ago and now has a pair of five-year-old twin sons.
One-month mission is not the longest time Chen has stayed away from home. When he was a pilot, he once did not come back home for half a year during a mission. He described the experience as "no seeing, no missing".
But with the help of Virtual Reality (VR) technology, astronauts will meet their family during leisure time. "If I see them (family members), it will be different somehow," Chen said.
For Jing, he looks very calm. In his first space mission on Shenzhou VII, his wife was so nervous that she almost did not sleep during those three days. Now that it is his third mission, his wife has got used to it.
During the mission, the team on the ground will visits Jing and Chen's family. "I talked with my wife and I think she will not worry much," said Chen Dong with a smile.
