Letter to Wang Yaping
"Tiangong Class" has started!
In a blink of an eye, more than a month has passed since the Shenzhou 13 flight crew stationed in the Tianhe core cabin.
During this period of time, in addition to activities such as adapting to the space environment, exiting the capsule, and completing related technical verification of the space station, the three astronauts residing in the "Tiangong" also prepared a special "open class" for the children in the home of the earth. .
Just like 8 years ago, the lecturer of this class still has the familiar teacher Wang Yaping.
But what is different from 8 years ago is that the podium for this class is even bigger-in the space station built by China, there will be two experimental cabins "Wen Tian" and "Meng Tian" in the future; the content of the course schedule is richer. ——Added new links such as space cytology research experiment demonstration, buoyancy disappearance experiment, effervescent tablet experiment and so on.
At the same time, the students attending the class have also changed.
In front of the screen, not only the young people are watching carefully, but also a group of people are listening to the lectures from space for the second time.
The children who were amazed by the spinning top and water polo experiments are now grown up.
Elementary school students who were once ignorant have gradually understood the mysteries of science.
Some of the middle school students of that year entered the university and moved on toward a deeper hall of knowledge; some entered the work position and continued to struggle for the cause of their choice.
The magic of time lies in the moment the dream is planted.
In the summer 8 years ago, they saw their dreams shine through a special class.
Eight years later, before the first space teaching of the "Tiangong Class" on the Chinese Space Station, many children in the "Space Class" wrote a letter to Teacher Wang Yaping who planted the seeds of their dreams.
Now, let us open the collection of time and see what they want to say.
Stars live up to dream chasers
Dear Sister Yaping:
For a long time, in my mind, you are both a steady and determined flying hero under rigorous training conditions, and a kind, lovely, professional and rigorous space teacher in the camera.
For many years, I have regarded you as a goddess of worship and an example of struggle.
I am very excited to have the opportunity to communicate with you through letters.
But at this moment, I want to talk about you as my close sister Yaping.
In June 2013, I was a sophomore in Gaomi No. 1 Middle School in Shandong Province, and you have been identified as a member of the Shenzhou 10 crew, preparing for the final stage of the flight mission.
When I saw your photo on TV for the first time, my whole family praised you as "talent and beautiful"!
I don't know how you felt in the days before the launch?
Since I learned that there will be space lectures in the Tenth Mission, I have been looking forward to this live broadcast every day-you will be able to see and hear what you are talking about in space within a few seconds on the earth.
Back then, the words "taught in space" were still very unfamiliar to everyone, and the students around me didn't quite understand it. Why do I always feel excited when I mention it.
So, not only do I want to watch the live broadcast by myself, but I also want to take the whole class and even the whole year students to watch it together.
I will never forget that morning.
At 10 o'clock on June 20, 2013, we couldn't wait to turn on the TV.
When I and more than 50 classmates in my class saw the top, pendulum and water polo experiments you demonstrated in a weightless environment, as well as various stunts that are difficult to achieve on the earth, the emotions surging in my heart are difficult to use. A single word to describe.
I am amazed by the wonderful sparks that the special space environment and ordinary physics experiments collide with. I am delighted that the "Newton's law" and "universal speed" that you just learned in the textbook have been verified by you in such a special and intuitive way. I am moved. The light in the eyes of the students around me-the magic of space exploration and the charm of astronauts have finally been seen and understood by more people!
In that "water polo reflection" lens, your big watery eyes and the gleaming water polo match each other, and the playful sentence "Look, through the water polo, you can still see my reflection", the whole picture freezes into " "Space Class" left me the most beautiful and beautiful frame of memory.
Later, the college entrance examination was over.
When filling in the volunteers, because I can always hear "XX measurement and control station" or "XX measurement and control ship" in the live broadcast, I did not hesitate to fill in all the first majors of the six parallel volunteers as "automation" or " Measurement and control".
This is to be able to get closer to you and to the aerospace industry.
Finally, I was admitted to the School of Control Science and Engineering of Shandong University without any risk, and I also entered my favorite measurement and control major.
In the four years of university, I still didn't let go of my interest in "aerospace science popularization".
In 2016, when Tiangong-2 was launched, I began to use my spare time to serialize the "Tiangong Diary" series of aerospace science articles on the college's WeChat public account.
Although the path of aerospace science is not as easy as imagined, I still want to sow the seeds of the aerospace dream in more people's hearts as you did in the space teaching.
As long as the words I write can make one more person know more about spaceflight, even a little bit, it is great happiness for me, and my efforts will not be wasted.
In September 2018, I was admitted to Beihang University. This is the school I longed for in the college entrance examination but missed.
Coincidentally, you explained to me, who was a high school student, on the "fixed axis of gyroscope" on Tiangong-1; now, I am sitting in the laboratory of Beihang University and I have studied the gyroscope in the inertial navigation system.
Maybe this little spinning top is to maintain the unstoppable and unswerving fate between me and you!
Finally, as a Chinese, I want to thank you and thousands of astronauts for their dedication to the motherland’s aerospace industry without fear of danger and sacrifice.
As an ordinary girl, I want to say: Sister Yaping, thank you for being like a dazzling star over the years, always guiding and inspiring me to strive forward.
Perhaps you have not known who I am all the time, but you have already become the light I yearn for on the road to pursue my dreams.
In the future, I will continue to follow your example and contribute my own small but firm strength to China's aerospace industry.
Wang Nan
December 2019
(Now, the student Wang Nan who wrote the above letter has graduated from postgraduate and officially became an aerospace person. As written in the letter, she is constantly running on the path of pursuing dreams, and is trying her best to release the development of China's aerospace industry. Own light and heat.)
There is a record called growth
To Teacher Yaping and all astronauts:
On the afternoon of September 25, 2008, the sun was shining directly on the playground of the mother's unit.
It was a school sports meeting that day, and the students were sweating their sweat on the playground.
I was only 7 years old, squatting at the end of the sandpit, watching my brothers and sisters come to participate in the competition.
After dinner, I squatted in front of the TV early, waiting for the special report of the evening-the launch of Shenzhou VII mission.
Time is moving every minute and every second, "10, 9, 8...2, 1, light up!"
With a clear and loud command, I saw the fire under the launch tower from the screen, heard the roar of the engine, and jumped excitedly.
This roar sounded like a giant dragon born, shaking the earth.
In the live broadcast of the cabin exit a few days later, the astronauts said "I am out of the cabin and feel good" again, which made me extremely excited!
In a blink of an eye, the Shenzhou 10 manned mission five years later.
This is the second time that a female astronaut has entered space in our country.
The launch process went very smoothly, and I watched it with gusto.
What the CCTV host said next made me more interested: "Astronauts will carry out a series of space experiments, including space teaching..."
What is "taught in space"?
As a junior high school student, class is naturally a daily routine, but this is the first time I have heard of the new thing of space teaching.
In the next few days, by paying attention to the news, I learned about the time of space teaching.
That day, I was waiting in front of the TV with my classmates in advance.
When the picture cut to the "space classroom", I saw the astronaut Wang Yaping "fly" over and began to explain space knowledge.
I remember very clearly: Teacher Yaping quickly opened up the topic through a few simple experiments, explaining to us the characteristics of object motion under weightless conditions, the role of liquid surface tension, and Newton's law.
Although this class is not long, I have benefited a lot and will never forget it.
Being able to create the world's largest "classroom", as a Chinese, my pride emerges spontaneously.
At that moment, I really felt the country's leapfrog development in the aerospace field!
In the following years, I have been following news about China's aerospace industry.
After the college entrance examination, on July 23, 2020, I went to the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan to witness and photograph the Long March 5 Yaosi carrier rocket carrying the Tianwen-1 Mars probe into space.
After the launch, I secretly made up my mind to record the milestones in China's manned spaceflight!
On April 29, 2021, many like-minded friends and I gathered in Wenchang, Hainan to witness the shooting of the Long March 5 Yao-2 launch vehicle carried by the Tianhe core module.
Our team made this process into a video, hoping to let more people know and understand China Aerospace, love and support China Aerospace.
After that, I filmed every launch of the space station stage and made a video and posted it on the Internet.
I hope that through my tiny power, more young people can learn about China’s efforts in the field of manned spaceflight.
I also hope that they can be proud that they are Chinese and that they have such a strong motherland in the aerospace field!
On October 16, 2021, the Shenzhou 13 spacecraft was launched into space.
After that, I was very excited to hear the news of the opening of "Tiangong Classroom"!
In the past 8 years, although I have grown up from a junior high school to a university student, I have benefited immensely from the gains I have gained from teaching in space!
I look forward to this lecture that will give me new gains!
Wang Jingtian
November 25, 2021
Sing in the stars
Teacher Yaping:
I remember you once said that your dream of spaceflight was planted when you saw the bright tail flames of the Shenzhou-5 rocket launching into space; and my dream of spaceflight also began 18 years ago.
In 2003, I just entered the primary school campus.
At that time, when I was young, I didn’t know what aerospace was. I was only attracted by the picture of rocket launching on TV. While listening to my military-loving dad telling me about rockets, I curiously imagined the world beyond the blue sky. .
After that, every time my parents took me to a bookstore, I always liked to read astronomy and aerospace books on the popular science bookshelf, and "studied" new star outbursts, black holes, launch vehicles and space shuttles with relish.
Every time the launch is broadcast live, the sound of the tail flame tearing the air after the rocket takes off is intertwined with the "tracking normal" report, which is perhaps the most beautiful sound in the world.
Seeing the rocket flying higher and higher and gradually disappearing into the blue sky, my thoughts also flew beyond the clouds.
No matter where I am, whether the launch window is in the early morning or late at night, I will always find a way to witness every important space flight moment.
At the meeting with astronauts before the Shenzhou 13 launch, when Teacher Yaping once again said the phrase "A flying dream never loses weight, a scientific dream has unlimited tension", I suddenly felt that my heart was rubbed, as if all of a sudden. Back to that high school summer.
On the second day after the space teaching, the teacher took out half of the physics class to review the fragments related to Newton's second law in the space teaching.
Not only did I marvel at the magic of the microgravity environment, but I also suddenly felt that the small sliders, inclined planes and conveyor belts on the test papers in my hand were no longer "abominable". Even though these exercises still make me big, these difficulties and challenges are the pursuit of scientific truth. An essential paving stone.
Unlike other aerospace enthusiasts who have the courage to pursue and realize their dreams, I did not choose aerospace as my career.
I wrote the words "literature and history" on the questionnaire for the sub-discipline of arts and sciences, and since then I have embarked on a road that is almost impossible to have any intersection with aerospace.
Today, 8 years have passed since the first space lecture, and I have been on the path of my choice for 8 years.
From high school to PhD, I do not regret the choice back then.
I love my current major, and I really aim for it. This is exactly what I started when I chose liberal arts.
But my love for aerospace has not diminished by this.
Aerospace is still an important part of my life.
Long five first flight, Chang'e lunar exploration, Beidou network, Tianwen fire detection, core module launch, astronauts expedition, and walk out of the capsule...every time the "new year of the voyage" celebrates the person I am indispensable.
In my spare time, I occasionally collect and organize some materials on space history, and present them in the form of study notes, and share them with space enthusiasts.
More importantly, when I am lost and confused and afraid to move forward because of difficulties, I can always draw a steady stream of spiritual power from my aerospace industry.
Aerospace is a business of one shot for 10,000 people, with many participants, but few names can be remembered by the world.
But aerospace people always strive for the aerospace industry of the motherland with the realm and courage of "the achievement does not have to be with me, the achievement must have me".
I think that true happiness should come from the process of struggle, and it should come from the spiritual and spiritual enrichment obtained in the process of contributing to society and serving the people.
Faced with the unsatisfactory things in life, are we always struggling with what we are in front of and complaining about others?
No, we should look up at the endless starry sky.
On the scale of the universe, human beings are more insignificant than a drop in the ocean, but humans still look up at the stars with curiosity, walk out of the cradle of the earth with extraordinary courage, and ask and explore the truth about the universe and about human beings. This is human civilization. The most romantic thing in history.
We should think about people who are obsessed with ideals and beliefs.
Generations of astronauts have shouldered the ideal and mission of serving the country in space, enabling China's aerospace industry to fly over.
Regardless of personal gains and losses, the astronauts put national interests as their top priority. They have never flinched in the face of stringent selections, and have not given up in the face of more than ten years of arduous training. Even in the face of life and death, they resolutely choose Let the five-star red flag fly high in space"!
The work I am engaged in does not overlap with aerospace, but the scientific spirit of seeking truth from facts and pursuing truth is not exclusive to a certain discipline.
As a learner and researcher of social sciences, I should face my study and work with the same attitude.
After I finish my studies and return to China, I will also work hard to contribute to the education and social and economic development of the motherland.
Finally, I would like to ask Mr. Yaping a little question: Are the bay fish dumplings on the space station delicious?
When you eat dumplings during the Chinese New Year, you must share the experience of New Year in space with us!
I wish the Shenzhou 13 crew on orbit all the best, and look forward to your safe and triumphant victory!
(The letter is provided by the official platform of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, and the content has been deleted.)
Wang Jiayang