Transcript of 'Strivers on the New Journey'
'Self-reliance and self-improvement in the development of manned spaceflight'
China’s State Council Information Office (国务院新闻办公室) held a press conference regarding the country’s crewed spaceflight efforts on June 17th, not long after the success of Mengzhou’s zero-altitude abort test was announced.
In English the conference was titled “Pursuing self-reliant development in manned spaceflight”, while in Chinese it was called “Strivers on the New Journey” with a focus on “self-reliance and self-improvement in the development of manned spaceflight”.
Speaking at the press conference were Yang Hong (杨宏), Chief Designer of the Manned Space Station System of China Manned Space Program and researcher at the China Academy of Space Technology of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, Li Yingliang (李英良), Director and researcher at the General Technology Bureau of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, Fei Junlong (费俊龙), veteran taikonaut and commander of the Shenzhou-6 and Shenzhou-15 missions, Sun Wei (孙威), Deputy Chief Designer of the Landing Site System of China Manned Space Program and a measurement and control expert, and Zhang Lu (张璐), Assistant to the Chief Commander of the Space Application System of China Manned Space Program and researcher at the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Wang Shi (王师), from the Press Bureau of the State Council Information Office, was the chairperson for the press conference.
The conference touched on a variety of subjects related to China’s crewed space missions, with coverage in English-language media focusing on international collaboration opportunities in science and technology as well as the common astronauts’ experience.
An English transcript of the meeting has not been released, but a Chinese-language one has. As such, I’ve prepared an unofficial translation of the press conference, and it is provided below. Any errors present are my own, if you find any problems with this translation please reach out and correct me. If you are looking to reference any part of the transcript, please refer to the Chinese-language version hosted on the State Council Information Office’s website.
State Council Information Office Press Conference: Strivers on the New Journey
Opening remarks
Wang Shi: Good afternoon, journalist friends! Welcome to the State Council Information Office's "Strivers on the New Journey" China-foreign press meeting.
On December 31, 2022, President Xi Jinping solemnly announced in his New Year's address that "China's space station has been fully completed". For this moment, generations of Chinese aerospace workers have strived continuously for 30 years, adding another "milestone" to the journey of building a strong aerospace nation.
Exploration is endless. Today, the Chinese nation's thousand-year dream of lunar landing is moving from blueprint to reality, with plans to achieve crewed lunar landing before 2030. Behind the realization of our space dreams lies the united struggle of the entire nation and the collective support of countless strivers. Manned spaceflight is a complex systems engineering project, composed of 14 major systems and hundreds of subsystems, involving over a thousand participating units and hundreds of thousands of scientific researchers. It exemplifies the advantages of our new-type nationwide system and crystallizes the dedication and sweat of several generations.
Today, we are particularly pleased to invite five representatives from the frontlines of manned space engineering construction to discuss "Independent Innovation and Self-Reliance in Developing Manned Spaceflight" with everyone. Let me introduce these representatives:
Mr. Yang Hong, Chief Designer of China's Manned Space Engineering Space Station System and Researcher at the Space Technology Research Institute of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
Mr. Li Yingliang, Director of the General Technology Bureau of China Manned Space Engineering Office and Researcher
Mr. Fei Junlong, Special-Grade Astronaut of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps and Commander of the Shenzhou-15 crew
Mr. Sun Wei, Deputy Chief Designer of China's Manned Space Engineering Landing Site System and Tracking and Control System Expert
Mr. Zhang Lu, Assistant Chief Commander of China's Manned Space Engineering Space Application System and Researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Space Application Engineering and Technology Center
Now, please allow the five representatives to briefly introduce themselves. First, Mr. Yang Hong.
Yang Hong: Good afternoon, journalist friends! I am Yang Hong from the Space Technology Research Institute of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, engaged in manned spacecraft system design and engineering management.
Since 1992, I have been fortunate to participate throughout the implementation of China's manned space engineering "three-step" strategy, and currently serve as Chief Designer of China's Manned Space Engineering Space Station System. Everyone is very concerned about China's space station situation, so let me briefly report here.
Currently, China's space station is operating safely and stably in orbit, with astronauts maintaining regular long-term residence. It has already accommodated 9 mission crews and conducted 6 space rendezvous missions. Our Chinese space station is fulfilling its function as a national space laboratory, with various space application experiments proceeding in an orderly manner. Our team is working at full capacity to ensure the long-term safe and stable operation of our space station and the healthy living and efficient work of astronauts in orbit. Please rest assured.
In the future, we will develop and launch space station expansion modules at appropriate times to continuously enhance our Chinese space station's capabilities and meet national strategic development needs. Thank you!
Wang Shi: Chief Designer Yang and his team have designed the "heavenly palace" and written a contemporary symphony of independence and self-reliance on the path of space station construction.
Now, Mr. Li Yingliang.
Li Yingliang: Hello everyone! I am Li Yingliang, currently Director of the General Technology Bureau at China Manned Space Engineering Office. My team and I are mainly responsible for top-level overall design, technical coordination, and technical management of the engineering project. In 2022, our team, together with the entire engineering front, completed our country's space station on schedule, successfully realizing the "three-step" development strategy of manned space engineering.
Let me briefly and simply introduce this "three-step" development strategy:
Step One: Launch our manned spacecraft, send Chinese people into space and return them safely
Step Two: Achieve spacewalking, breakthrough space rendezvous and docking technology, launch space laboratory, and solve space application problems with certain scale and short-term human tending
Step Three: Build a space station - our space home - to solve large-scale, long-term human-tended space application problems
Currently, my team and I are working solidly toward the goals of operating, applying, and developing our country's space station well, and achieving Chinese lunar landing before 2030. Here, I also want to report the latest news to everyone - just before our press conference, we received word from the front lines that the new generation Mengzhou manned spacecraft has successfully completed its escape flight test, marking another major breakthrough in our crewed lunar exploration engineering development work.
We can say that China's manned space engineering has achieved outstanding results with a perfect record, running at "acceleration" speed on the new journey of space exploration. Moving forward, our team will continue to work tirelessly to contribute greater strength to building a strong aerospace and technological nation. Thank you!
Wang Shi: Thank you, Director Li, and we salute all aerospace workers who drew the blueprint for building the "Tiangong" and made dreams come true step by step.
Now, Mr. Fei Junlong.
Fei Junlong: Hello everyone! I am astronaut Fei Junlong from the Chinese People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps. In January 1998, my comrades and I were honored to become China's first batch of astronauts. In October 2005, I served as commander and executed the Shenzhou-6 manned flight mission with Nie Haisheng. In November 2022, I again served as commander and executed the Shenzhou-15 manned spaceflight with teammates Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu.
I am very proud and honored to have witnessed the first "space rendezvous" in Chinese aerospace history and personally experienced and witnessed the completion of China's space station. As an astronaut, being always ready to embark on missions for the motherland again - this is our mission. Thank you all!
Wang Shi: You and your teammates have interpreted the power of dreams through your heroic deeds of serving the country and decades of persistent dedication. The "dream-fulfilling crew" lives up to its name.
Now, Mr. Sun Wei.
Sun Wei: Hello everyone, I am Sun Wei, an aerospace design engineer. Over my 28 years of work, I have personally experienced and witnessed the development and construction of China's manned space engineering tracking, telemetry, and command system and landing site system.
You may not know that in 2003, when aerospace hero Yang Liwei completed China's first manned flight feat, the tracking and communication system coverage was only about 15% - meaning that during the 90 minutes it takes for the spacecraft to orbit Earth once, only about 13 minutes or 15% of the time could communicate with ground. Today, tracking and communication signals cover almost the entire journey. Through wireless communication equipment designed and installed in the space station, we can ensure smooth audio and video communication between astronauts and ground researchers, family, and friends.
As deputy chief designer of the landing site system, following in the footsteps of several generations of chief designers, I have jointly designed and constructed a manned spaceflight search and rescue system serving Shenzhou spacecraft return and landing, covering multi-layered three-dimensional land, sea, air, and space domains. We use satellites to search for spacecraft beacons in real-time, optical telescopes to photograph the entire spacecraft return process, helicopters to transport search and rescue personnel to reach the spacecraft landing point immediately, and medical monitoring and support vehicles to provide astronauts with comfortable gravity readaptation environments, ensuring every astronaut returns home safely.
At the end of April this year, the Shenzhou-19 spacecraft's return was delayed by one day due to weather conditions. We quickly activated emergency plans and still achieved "capsule landing, aircraft arrival", fully demonstrating the high safety and reliability of our country's manned space engineering. Thank you all!
Wang Shi: You and your colleagues are the ones holding the "kite string", and "looking up at the stars while keeping feet on the ground" is vividly interpreted through you.
Now, Mr. Zhang Lu.
Zhang Lu: Good afternoon everyone! I am Zhang Lu from the Chinese Academy of Sciences Space Application Engineering and Technology Center. I am a post-85s aerospace worker, and I was very fortunate to join China's manned space engineering space application system work in 2014. Over the past ten-plus years, I have been working on the frontlines in overall design of space station application systems and scientific payload development.
You might wonder what our space application system does. The space application system utilizes the special environment of space to conduct scientific research and corresponding application verification. Today I brought a model of a core module scientific experiment rack - the containerless material science experiment rack. This is one of our earliest scientific experiment racks to go to space. The real rack is much larger than this model, about 1.8 meters tall. Our goal is to move various comprehensive laboratories from ground to space, fitting them into experiment racks of less than 2 cubic meters to support scientists in conducting related scientific and application research.
Our experiment racks have achieved breakthroughs in a series of key technologies, including lightweight, high-load structural dynamics design, making our experiment rack load ratio more than twice that of the International Space Station. This means we can carry more scientific payloads to space with minimal load cost to meet scientists' research needs for the next decade.
Over these ten years, benefiting from the rapid development of manned spaceflight, I personally grew from a doctoral graduate to a doctoral supervisor, from a frontline designer to assistant chief commander of the space application system. Over these ten years, we participated in and witnessed the entire process of space science and applications going from "following to leading". Our team has also received honors such as the "China May Fourth Youth Medal Collective" and "Chinese Academy of Sciences Annual Team".
Currently, our most important and core task is to "use well and develop well" our space station, to achieve the goal of "building ships for stations, building stations for applications". We want to work with outstanding scientists to explore the mysteries of the vast universe and realize our dream of becoming a strong aerospace nation. Thank you all!
Wang Shi: Space is far from us, but aerospace is not far from our daily lives. You and your team have moved laboratories to the "Tiangong", making space mysteries within reach.
Thank you to all five representatives for their introductions. Now we enter the Q&A session. Please announce your news organization before asking questions.
Press questions
Beijing Youth Daily (北京青年报): All representatives have been striving on the frontlines, witnessing and participating in the development of our country's manned spaceflight. How do you view the development achievements made over these years? Can you combine your work experience to talk about what personal stories and deep feelings you have about "independence and self-reliance"? For aerospace workers, what is the spirit of aerospace workers' struggle? Thank you.
Li Yingliang: Thank you for your question. As everyone knows, over the 30-plus years of China's manned space engineering development, generations of aerospace workers have continued to struggle, achieving the thousand-year dream of flight from nothing, then first spacewalk, then space station construction - truly world-renowned achievements. I believe these achievements were obtained through three points:
First, persisting in the advantages of the nationwide system, enriching and perfecting effective approaches for concentrating efforts on major undertakings under socialist market economy conditions. This emphasizes both "integration" consciousness and "one game of chess" thinking, while focusing on establishing and perfecting competition and incentive mechanisms, maximizing the enthusiasm and creativity of all parties, forming strong synergy for common development and success.
Second, persisting in self-reliance and independent innovation, continuously pursuing system optimization and innovation, not repeatedly walking old paths. For example, we adopted a "simultaneous approach" technical route of developing and launching space laboratories for space rendezvous and docking experiments and advance verification of some key space station technologies, which both saved funds and greatly accelerated engineering progress. Another example is our innovative formulation of a moderate-scale, well-expandable, co-orbital space station overall plan, achieving internationally advanced overall levels.
Third, persisting in excellence and continuous refinement, doing all work to the extreme. For example, our engineering top-level planning and design often requires repeated demonstration and iterative design, requiring extensive detailed analysis work and repeated consideration and comparison. Sometimes we overturn more than ten technical routes before finally determining the plan. For instance, although our space station construction overall plan ultimately formed only dozens of pages, the demonstration process materials could fill several sacks. Another example: to ensure mission success and reduce risks, we worked with the entire engineering front to continuously conduct contingency designs, cumulatively formulating over ten thousand failure contingency plans. Although the probability of encountering them is low, these plans play huge roles at critical moments.
We often say great undertakings nurture great spirits, and great spirits drive great undertakings. Manned spaceflight has nurtured the spirit of being especially capable of hardship, especially capable of fighting, especially capable of tackling problems, and especially capable of dedication. In my view, the main content of this spirit is our determination to face technical difficulties head-on and tenaciously tackle problems, the noble quality of generations of aerospace workers who remain indifferent to fame and fortune, dedicate silently, do earth-shaking work while remaining anonymous, and our spirit and vigor to courageously enter deserts and battle heaven and earth under harsh natural conditions.
Generations of aerospace workers have used this spirit to pave the successful road to space. Thank you all!
Fei Junlong: Let me try to share our aerospace workers' experiences with you. From Shenzhou-6 to Shenzhou-15, two flights, finally witnessing the complete construction of our Chinese space station, I fully understand the weight of the phrase "firmly grasping destiny in our own hands". To overtake on curves, we must first be independent and self-reliant.
We aerospace workers are a group of people who look up at the stars, but more importantly, we are a group of people who keep our feet on the ground - we do what we say, work hard with our heads down, and do solid work. For astronauts, we all swear before the national flag when first enlisted: the motherland's interests are above all else, and we are willing to dedicate everything to our motherland's manned spaceflight cause. For years, decades, we strive and struggle to uphold this commitment. We never forget our mission - to embark for our country, and we have no regrets. Thank you!
Sun Wei: I'd also like to share my feelings. I feel that China's space station construction is another example of leveraging the advantages of our new-type nationwide system and an excellent work of China's exquisite engineering technology. The space station's completion demonstrates our nation's wisdom and complex large-system engineering organizational management capabilities, while also highlighting our strong comprehensive strength to transform grand strategic concepts into real engineering miracles.
Speaking of aerospace workers' struggle spirit, I agree with Director Li's thinking. For manned space engineering, the summary of "especially capable of hardship, especially capable of fighting, especially capable of tackling problems, especially capable of dedication" is precisely accurate.
In summer 2022, before the first manned spaceflight experiment, I participated as scientific research coordinator in the Shenzhou spacecraft return capsule sea floating and astronaut endurance survival test. In the early stages of the test, two groups of backup personnel experienced dizziness, vomiting, and rapid heart rate within less than 10 minutes after entering the Shenzhou return capsule floating on the sea surface, forcing the test to be terminated. At that time, whether the Shenzhou spacecraft had emergency sea life support capability was questioned.
At the critical moment, a medical monitoring and support doctor from the landing site system volunteered to lead two young colleagues as the third backup test group to re-enter the return capsule. After the hatch closed, the return capsule rocked violently and even rolled in the wind and waves. Fortunately, with careful guidance from the test command and medical team, the three of them continued testing until late at night while ensuring life safety, obtaining precious test data with professional spirit and tenacious willpower, fully verifying that the Shenzhou spacecraft has 24-hour life maintenance capability on the sea surface.
We later conducted many such tests. What I want to say is that this embodies the spiritual code of Chinese aerospace workers - no grand words, but the courage and persistence to measure safety with life. In my view, every position on the aerospace front has a screw that never rusts. Tens of thousands of screws twisted together forge the steel ladder leading to the stars. Thank you!
Zhang Lu: Let me talk about my personal thoughts from the perspective of building space laboratories. As everyone knows, the space station ultimately needs to be built into a national-level "space laboratory". Actually, at the beginning of space station demonstration, nobody knew what this space laboratory should look like, because we had very little experience to draw from.
Starting from zero, through completely autonomous methods, from overall scientific requirement demonstration to experiment rack architecture design, we completed scientific experiment racks with Chinese characteristics and international leadership. The high microgravity, high-precision time-frequency, ultra-cold atoms, two-phase system and other experiment racks are all international firsts. We proved through action that what foreigners can do, Chinese people can not only do, but do better.
Now, using these scientific experiment racks, fruit flies, zebrafish, rice, composite materials, new alloy materials and others are continuously achieving international breakthrough progress, with many good results being promoted and applied. This is precisely our vivid aerospace practice of independence and self-reliance, mastering core key technologies in our own hands.
Speaking of aerospace workers' struggle spirit, as several teachers mentioned earlier, our predecessors achieved "Two Bombs, One Satellite" by "doing earth-shaking work while remaining anonymous" in the Gobi Desert. Now our young generation has built the space station and is implementing crewed lunar exploration missions. I believe "self-reliance and hard struggle" is precisely the spiritual code passed down by generations of aerospace workers. Thank you.
Yang Hong: Hello everyone. Combining our space station system development, let me talk about our understanding of independence and self-reliance. Our team, based on national conditions and courageously innovating, established a construction plan for China's space station with Chinese characteristics. Through the entire system's efforts and struggle, our space station system successfully built a Chinese space station with contemporary technological levels. Core key technologies have completely independent intellectual property rights, with products entirely domestically produced, walking a path of high-level technological independence and self-reliance.
Speaking of aerospace workers' struggle spirit, I understand that the essence of struggle spirit is putting the country first and being determined to serve the country. The older generation of aerospace workers created the glory of Chinese aerospace while also leaving us precious spiritual wealth. I still deeply remember three sentences that my old chief designer, also the first chief designer of Shenzhou spacecraft, Academician Qi Fazhen, often taught us: "Success does not equal maturity, one success does not equal success every time, astronauts' life safety is in the hands of each of our designers. If you were an astronaut, would you dare to ride the spacecraft you designed to space?"
These three sentences demonstrate the older generation aerospace workers' meticulous, careful, and realistic work style, and also inspire generations of aerospace workers to continue struggling. I have the responsibility to inherit and carry forward the precious spirit of the older generation aerospace workers, leading young teams to pass on the aerospace spirit like a torch. Thank you!
Da Xiang News (大象新闻): My question is for Mr. Fei Junlong. In the Shenzhou-15 mission, your crew performed four spacewalks, creating a record for spacewalk activities by a single crew. Facing heavy spacewalk tasks, you always answered with "feeling good". Where do you think this confidence and assurance come from? Thank you.
Fei Junlong: Thank you for your question. After returning this time, including after returning from Shenzhou-6, I've been to many places, and many people ask us: were you afraid flying in space? I want to tell everyone here, and also tell the people of the whole country, we were not afraid.
On one hand, our schedule up there was very tight. Every operation, every operational procedure, and the installation, debugging, and monitoring of every piece of equipment required our close attention, recording, and monitoring. We also had a living schedule up there - we needed to synchronize with Earth, so we didn't have time to be afraid.
On the other hand, we have such good design teams. As Academician Yang just said, we rode such good rockets, such good spacecraft, such good space stations - we had no need to be afraid. So we really weren't afraid, and to some extent we were even enjoying it.
As for "feeling good", I think this confidence comes from our ground preparation and ground training. As I just mentioned, every action, every procedure, every design plan - for us astronauts, we might train dozens, hundreds, even thousands of times on the ground. Just for one spacewalk procedure, we might go through dozens or hundreds of repeated verifications. Sometimes, just to operate one switch, we might train hundreds of times. This is to let us reach habitual actions, truly achieve muscle memory - where operations become habits, where you might not need to look with your eyes but can naturally complete the operation.
I think this "feeling good" comes from our accumulated experience day by day and the sweat we've paid drop by drop. So we sincerely say "feeling good" - this is our confidence and assurance. Thank you!
China Media Group (中央广播电视总台): When we mention China's manned spaceflight, everyone has a very deep impression - one word: "stable". This includes astronaut spacewalks, astronaut round trips between heaven and earth, and the space station's orbital operation. How is this "stability" achieved? Can you share some vivid stories of frontline technological innovation? Also, it was just mentioned that the next-generation manned spacecraft Mengzhou just completed zero-altitude flight tests. What significance does this have for our next step in manned spaceflight development? I'd mainly like Chief Designer Yang to answer whether this means our crewed lunar landing is closer? Thank you.
Yang Hong: Thank you for your question. Let me answer your question about "stability". I understand that behind the word "stable" is actually the joint support of technological innovation, scientific system management, unity and cooperation, and the silent dedication of countless aerospace workers.
Still using space station development as an example, the space station consists of three modules. As you can see from the model, they are launched separately, which means module independent flight must be stable, the assembly and construction process must be stable, and the large combination formed after assembly must be even more stable. So "stability" here has many layers of meaning.
During China's space station assembly and construction process, we don't have large tools like space shuttles. To assemble three 23-ton modules launched sequentially in space, the module repositioning process must also be safe and stable. Module repositioning is a high-dynamic, complex series of actions involving deep cross-fusion of multiple disciplines including dynamics, energy, tracking and control communications, attitude stabilization, etc. It's a high-dynamic process.
In this process, there's another point: the repositioning process of such heavy 23-ton modules cannot be fully tested 1:1 under gravity conditions on the ground. Facing this challenge, we formed an attack team for concentrated tackling. After rigorous multi-plan, multi-round demonstrations, we proposed a world-first "autonomous rendezvous and docking + planar repositioning" plan, then conducted thousands of person-hours and tens of thousands of simulation analyses and ground tests. During orbital mission implementation, we used flight data to drive ground digital twin systems for companion flight, precisely controlling each high-dynamic segment to achieve stability.
I remember on November 3, 2022, with the Mengtian laboratory module's orbital repositioning in place, our space station combination's three-module "T" shaped configuration construction was completed. After data interpretation, the entire repositioning process completely met our design expectations.
Currently, the space station has entered the application and development phase. My team's primary responsibility and mission is to ensure our country's space station's long-term safe and stable orbital operation and astronauts' healthy living and efficient work in orbit. We use advanced technical means and scientific management measures to provide 24-hour protection for our space station's safe and stable orbital operation, providing technical support for space scientific experiments and technical tests.
I understand that your question about "stability" actually also has a "fast" meaning - we might be more concerned about the stability of long-term safe operation of the space station. Facing long-term safe operation's "stability", we feel great responsibility and a long road ahead, not daring to have the slightest paralysis or negligence. Thank you!
Dazhong Daily News (大众新闻 / 大众日报): My question is for Director Li. Manned space engineering has come all the way, breaking through multiple key technologies, achieving a batch of scientific research results, and forming a set of scientific management models. For such a complex systems engineering project, how do you leverage the engineering overall coordination and management functions to achieve unity, cooperation, and coordination across the entire engineering front to successfully complete all tasks? Thank you.
Li Yingliang: As everyone may know, manned spaceflight is the largest scale, most complex system, highest technical difficulty, and highest reliability and safety requirements large-scale systems engineering in our country's aerospace development history. How to effectively manage such a massive systems engineering project is a major problem we face.
To strengthen engineering management, we fully considered China's national conditions and engineering characteristics. First, from the design beginning, we adopted two lines: administrative command system and designer system. These two lines run from engineering top-level overall work through every system and subsystem, down to component and unit development and production organization, achieving task-centered management where management reaches wherever tasks extend, leaving no blind spots.
Second, we unified management and arrangement of overall technology, scientific research quality, and condition construction, overcoming traditional mode phenomena where these three aspects weren't closely integrated or sometimes even disconnected. This close cooperation ensures that regardless of which link has problems, both lines can reach to the bottom with one stroke, coordinating and solving problems at the fastest speed.
Third, we implemented the design management concept of "overall leadership, participation by all parties, global optimization", twisting 14 major systems and over a hundred participating research and test units into one rope and unifying them into one game of chess. Through continuous exploration and practice, we built from nothing and continuously improved China's manned space engineering management system, achieving "horizontal to edges, vertical to bottom" comprehensive, full-process scientific management of engineering. This management model has also been widely promoted and applied to other aerospace engineering projects. Thank you!
Dingduan News (顶端新闻): My question is for Chief Designer Sun. We know that the landing site system is the last link ensuring astronauts' safe return. As deputy chief designer of the landing site system, what new practices have there been in recent years in precise tracking and control, rapid search and rescue, etc.? Could you share with everyone? Thank you.
Sun Wei: Thank you for your question. Starting from the Shenzhou-12 mission, the manned space engineering landing site system made major adjustments, moving the main landing site from Siziwang Banner in central Inner Mongolia to the Dongfeng site area. This first brought changes in landing site terrain, from grassland to mainly Gobi with some desert.
Today's Dongfeng landing site is in the transition zone between Gobi and desert, so there's a probability that Shenzhou spacecraft might fall into desert areas during return. When our air detachment helicopters are several meters above the desert, their rotors stir up sand and dust, forming continuous sandstorms, while helicopter engines suck sand into the engines, damaging aviation engines. After several attempts, we basically confirmed that helicopter landing in desert areas has obvious safety hazards, so we decided that if Shenzhou spacecraft falls into desert areas, ground search and rescue detachments would take primary responsibility for search and rescue missions.
Facing this challenge, comrades from the landing site search and rescue recovery detachment truly showed determination to face difficulties head-on. They concentrated over ten off-road vehicles and conducted nearly a hundred desert off-road training sessions, finally training a skilled off-road detachment adapted to all terrain in Gobi and desert.
I participated in deep Badain Jaran Desert off-road training. When off-road vehicles rushed down from sand mountains over 100 meters high with slopes exceeding 50 degrees, every bump was heart-stopping - I felt adrenaline surging. When off-road vehicles charged up sand mountains, I felt my heart jump to my throat. After that training ended and we returned to base, it was already 2-3 AM. After experiencing 20 hours of continuous desert off-road training, I felt both awe for nature and pride in conquering dangerous paths. Through training, I gained both the confidence of search and rescue personnel and enhanced pride as an aerospace worker. Thank you!
Phoenix TV (凤凰卫视): Earlier this year, the Chinese government announced the selection and training of Pakistani astronauts, which was evaluated by media as a "new model of equal and mutually beneficial South-South cooperation". Now, many countries have expressed intentions to cooperate with China in manned spaceflight. From past independent development to today's opening up and cooperation, please ask several representatives to talk about how you view manned spaceflight's contribution to human development. Thank you.
Li Yingliang: Let me first answer your question. As we all know, an important goal of manned spaceflight is to go from near-Earth space to outer space to explore and discover new things, continuously expanding human cognitive and survival development space.
In terms of scientific benefits, we hope to make major discoveries in fundamental and frontier issues such as origin of life, origin and evolution of the universe, and material structure, and achieve important theoretical breakthroughs in the essential laws of biology, materials, fluids, combustion and other matter. These will powerfully promote innovative development of human space science, space technology, and space applications.
In terms of economic and social benefits, we focus on promoting technology and innovation achievement transfer, transformation and application to fields like biopharmaceuticals, materials, energy, and manufacturing, promoting related industrial upgrade and development.
China's space station and crewed lunar exploration, representing Chinese aerospace, provide better platforms for broader international cooperation. We believe Chinese aerospace will provide better "Chinese solutions" and make more "Chinese contributions" to human space exploration and promoting the building of a community with shared future for mankind. Thank you!
Sun Wei: Let me also answer your question. I think Chinese civilization naturally has characteristics of friendliness, peace, and inclusiveness. Historically, typical Chinese products like silk and porcelain have made outstanding contributions to promoting human social progress and cultural exchange. China's space station is precisely another "national business card" that China presents to the world, also demonstrating that Chinese aerospace always adheres to the concept of "open sharing, win-win cooperation".
We are willing to share aerospace field technology and engineering experience with countries worldwide. Using my own work as an example, we continuously improve and upgrade aerospace tracking and communication networks, including building more ground tracking stations and developing space-based tracking satellites. This not only improves our country's tracking capabilities but also provides richer tracking resources for human aerospace activities.
We also actively participate in various international organizations, such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS), taking practical actions to maintain international order for electromagnetic spectrum and orbital position allocation.
Chinese aerospace tracking and control is gradually becoming standardized and internationalized, becoming important infrastructure for human aerospace activities and providing convenient conditions for global aerospace cooperation. Thank you!
Fei Junlong: Let me answer this reporter's question. As an astronaut, during each flight, I look back through the porthole at our beautiful home - Earth. Each time I see this blue planet, it gives me deep shock. I believe my colleagues and international colleagues also look back at our common human home during flight - we only have one Earth, so exploring and developing space is humanity's common cause.
During our space flight, we received news materials transmitted from ground, including foreign media reports saying China is depicting its space station as one available for use by scientists from around the world, not just those from countries with existing space programs. We also believe history will witness that China's space station belongs to China and to the world.
Currently there are two space stations orbiting Earth - one is China's space station, and the other is the International Space Station, but both are orbiting around our common human home - Earth. So we also hope and sincerely invite friends from all over the world to visit our Chinese space station - Tiangong. Thank you.
The Paper (澎湃新闻): Our question is for Zhang Lu. As a representative of the aerospace youth born after 1985, how do you think the young generation can grow rapidly in the practice of building a strong aerospace nation? How can they run the historical baton of the new era? Thank you.
Zhang Lu: Thank you for your question, and thank you for your concern about young science and technology workers in the manned space program. I’ve always believed that one of the greatest advantages in the rapid development of China’s manned space program is the youth of our team. I started working on the program in 2012, and back then our average age was about 27 or 28. I recently took another look, and even after more than ten years, our average age is still only about 32. New young talent keeps joining the program.
In 2012, when I received my Ph.D., it coincided with the early stages of space station planning. Being part of China’s first space station project was a tremendous honor. When your personal aspiration to serve the country through science aligns with the country’s strategic needs, you can truly appreciate the significance of aerospace work. When I saw the designs I had worked on become actual scientific equipment aboard the space station, supporting vital experiments, I deeply felt the meaning of integrating personal effort into the national cause. I still remember vividly the moment after the core module was launched and I saw our experiment cabinet on the big screen after months apart. That was the first time I felt what happiness looks like in physical form.
It is this belief and sense of duty - being connected to national affairs and bearing national responsibility - that has driven us to devote ourselves to the project and grow quickly.
I’ve also been very lucky. Throughout my development, I’ve always had mentors from the older generation of aerospace pioneers. Their meticulous, rigorous work ethic continues to inspire us. Our academician Gu Yidong, now nearly 80 years old, still works on the front lines. He often tells me that we must always maintain a mindset of walking on thin ice and standing at the edge of an abyss. He urges us to be highly responsible and detail-oriented, to validate everything thoroughly and strive for perfection - only then can we do our work properly and thoroughly.
Under the inspiration of the manned space spirit and the guidance of our predecessors, young people like us have been able to grow rapidly and contribute our youthful energy to realizing the dream of building China into a space power. Thank you!
Nanfang Daily (南方日报): My question is for Chief Designer Yang. The Chinese space station is an unprecedentedly complex system project. As the chief designer of the space station system, could you share, based on your personal experience, what unique wisdom was applied in the overall design of the Chinese space station? You and your team have participated in and led the breakthroughs of many key technologies and have made enormous efforts - are there any particular stories you’d like to share with us? Thank you.
Yang Hong: Thank you for your question - this is a big topic. I’ll focus on the technical side of the space station system and share some of my own insights. As you mentioned, the space station is an extremely complex manned spacecraft. We needed to fully leverage the advantages of independent development in China, uphold the principle of systems science, and independently carry out top-level design and integrated system engineering. I’ll share a few examples.
First, the overall system architecture. We followed a top-down approach, starting with high-level design before breaking things down. We defined ten core functional disciplines first, including structural integrity, pressure sealing, energy, thermal control, information systems, and human habitat systems. These top-level functions determined our functional and performance requirements. From there, we broke them down into subsystem and module-specific requirements, and then further down to each component and interface. Only with this top-down design method can we ensure an optimal overall solution.
Second, functional-level system reconfiguration. As you know, the space station is made up of multiple modules, including visiting cargo (Tianzhou) and crew (Shenzhou) spacecraft. Each time we dock a module, we have to achieve “1 + 1 = 1”, meaning they must form one seamless whole. When multiple modules are docked, “1 + N” still has to function as a unified “1”, with the Tianhe core module maintaining central control. Each module provides complementary functions, and the overall performance of the station exceeds the sum of its parts. That’s how we achieved robustness and redundancy - one of the key strengths of our system design.
Now about innovation, let me give two examples:
The large space robotic arm: To enable astronauts to reach all outer surfaces of the space station, we would’ve needed a 70-meter-long boom. That would’ve been extremely difficult to develop and launch. So our engineers applied bionics, just like certain insects that can flip and crawl using either end of their bodies. We designed a 10-meter robotic arm with seven degrees of freedom, capable of crawling along the station’s surface. This is a uniquely Chinese innovation.
Key core components and risk management: Over ten years ago, we identified potential risks in sourcing key components. We started work early, launching R&D on nine critical categories of components. We adopted a simultaneous model: development and engineering validation proceeded in parallel. Within two years, we completed the design and testing, just before international restrictions took effect. We now produce all key components domestically, eliminating dependency and preventing “stranglehold” risks.
These examples have taught me that building the Chinese space station is an embodiment of the new model of the whole-nation system, a triumph of top-level systems thinking, and a successful engineering practice in achieving systemic innovation. Our experience proves that core technologies - especially key ones - must be in our own hands. They cannot be bought, begged, or borrowed from others. Thank you.
Wang Shi: Just now, the five representatives shared their journeys and experiences in the manned space program. On the path toward building China into a space power, countless aerospace scientists and engineers have done great things in silence, united in self-reliance and determination. Again and again, they’ve pushed the boundaries of what’s possible for China and created new “miracles”. They have composed a stirring anthem of struggle in the vast cosmos.
Let us salute the five representatives and all those working in China’s space program. Thank you!
Today’s press conference ends here. Thank you, everyone!
Once again, if you are looking to reference any part of the transcript, please refer to the Chinese-language version hosted on the State Council Information Office’s website.