For Gen Y astronaut, space dream comes true

Song Lingdong, one of the three astronauts who will carry out the Shenzhou XIX spaceflight mission, meets the press at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China, Oct 29, 2024. (Photo by Wang Jiangbo/for chinadaily.com.cn)

Lieutenant Colonel Song Lingdong will soon become one of the first astronauts from the post-1990s generation in China to embark on a space journey.

Born in August 1990 to a farmer's family in Caoxian county, Shandong province, Song was recruited by the People's Liberation Army Air Force in September 2008 and was sent to learn flying.

In the first months at the Air Force's flight school, the young man had bad scores in his physical tests because of long-time malnutrition. He also had a tough time while sitting in his first flights inside basic trainer aircraft due to airsickness.

Knowing clearly about his weaknesses, Song decided to rely on perseverance and rigorous training to offset them. He soon became the one student in his class who always appeared on the exercise field and often asked the trainers to double the amount of his training.

Thanks to his hard work, he received the top score in his solo flight examination and was commended for his excellent performance.

After graduation, Song was sent to a fighter jet brigade and moved up through the ranks.

At a comparatively young age, he was promoted to a first-grade pilot.

In the spring of 2018, Song was told about the PLA Astronaut Division beginning to pick new members and soon applied.

He said the desire to fly above the atmosphere was inspired by a TV news report he saw with his classmates about China's first spaceflight in October 2003, when he was just 13 years old.

In September 2020, the elite aviator was selected as one of the third group of astronauts and started undergoing intensive training in Beijing.

Not long after assuming the new post, Song found he was trapped by one of his own character traits: his impatient disposition. He soon realized that what a successful astronaut really needs is calmness and team spirit.

He learned to slow down and even started going fishing to improve his patience.

In the eyes of mission commander Cai Xuzhe and teammate Wang Haoze, Song is now fully capable of fulfilling a spaceflight and can be relied upon.