China News Agency, Beijing, June 4th: The first "post-70s" commander Chen Dong: Now I want to go to space, the feeling is so simple

　　Author Ma Shuisha Guo Chaokai

　　In 2016, astronaut Chen Dong took off the Shenzhou 11 manned spacecraft, and the moment he took off the fairing, his feeling was the word "cool".

Now that it is about to go to space after six years, Chen Dong's feeling is still "simple".

　　On June 4, the much-anticipated Shenzhou 14 astronaut crew revealed the answer. Astronauts Chen Dong, Liu Yang, and Cai Xuzhe got the "space ticket", and Chen Dong became China's first "post-70s" commander.

He described his flying mood at the media press conference: "After the space trip 6 years ago, my desire for space has grown day by day. Six years ago, I wanted to go to space, and now I want to go to space even more. That's how I feel. Simple."

The picture shows astronaut Chen Dong meeting with reporters at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

Photo by Wang Jiangbo issued by China News Agency

　　"Want to go to space" is what Chen Dong has always insisted on.

When filling out the college entrance examination in 1997, Chen Dong only filled in the Changchun Flight Academy of the Air Force; when he saw Yang Liwei going out into space in 2005, Chen Dong asked himself, "Can I fly higher, what would it be like to fly out of the atmosphere? "In 2009, he finally ushered in the opportunity of astronaut selection. Coincidentally, it was Yang Liwei, the hero in his mind, who interviewed him.

　　After 6 years of training, in 2016, Chen Dong became the first in the second batch of male astronauts to achieve the dream of flying.

He and Jing Haipeng took the Shenzhou 11 spacecraft and settled in the Tiangong-2 space laboratory for a 33-day residency in space.

This is the longest spaceflight by a Chinese astronaut before a mission to the space station.

　　Chen Dong also gained many "first experiences" in space during the flight, such as growing vegetables in space, making tea in space, running in space, and raising silkworms in space for the first time... He once said that he needed to play multiple roles in the mission. The spacecraft is also an engineer, doing various experiments, working as a repairman, in charge of equipment maintenance, a cleaner, cleaning the cabin environment, and a farmer, growing vegetables in space.

　　In this flight, Chen Dong has a new identity of "commander". He will lead the two colleagues who joined the astronaut team in the same batch to go to space to build the "space homeland" of the Chinese.

This is also the astronaut crew with the youngest average age since the Chinese space station mission.

　　"In terms of age, the three of us in the crew are relatively young, but we are fully prepared, passionate, and confident." Chen Dong said, the crew will be full of confidence, blood, and full marks. performance to complete the task.

　　It is worth mentioning that for this mission, the Shenzhou 14 flight crew needs to stay in orbit for half a year, plus the flight time of the Shenzhou 11 mission, Chen Dong may set a new record for the cumulative duration of Chinese astronauts in orbit.

　　When flying for the first time, Chen Dong said to the twin sons, who were only 5 years old at the time, "This time Dad is traveling far away. If you have time, look at the sky and look for brighter stars. Maybe Dad is there, and you can have a fight with Dad. Hello." Now flying again, the children asked Chen Dong, "Can Dad take us up there?"

　　Chen Dong's answer is also full of childishness.

He told his son "there are no more tickets" and left homework for the children to think about why they wanted to go to space and what they wanted to do after going there.

　　Chen Dong said with a smile, "Wang Yaping said that the mother who picked the stars came back when he came back, and when I came back, the father who checked the homework came back." (End)