Along with the continuous stepping-up of the implementation of the plan for manned-spaceflight, the training of astronauts is also followed up in an intensified way.
According to the plan China will launch into the space a module for the astronauts to stay in the cosmos for a short time carrying out some experimentation in it soon after its success in manned spaceflight. And then it will go further to construct space station, realizing the goal for astronauts to land on the moon.
According to the report of Outlook Weekly, of these "quasi-spacemen", two or three at least are expected to dart out from the earth, becoming the first batch of spacemen of China.
The training of the Chinese astronauts has been started some years ago. In 1996, two Chinese "spacemen" were dispatched to Moscow for training and in the meantime China has set out the training base construction on a full scale. The aerospace city located in Beijing's suburban area is said to be the third large city for spaceflight training of the world.
The batch of astronauts who are going to be trained first are selected from among those air force pilots with relatively rich experience. The conditions for the chosen must have a good physical build in addition to more than 1,000 hours flying in the air and they also have to go through an "expertise examination" with the equipment of the aerospace city.
As introduced by the official in charge of the plan for spaceflight, these astronauts to come are generally speaking, with the master's degree in mathematics, physics, engineering and biology, etc. Every day, they receive a strict training of 10 hours in the aerospace city, the training contents including the intensified specific training on aerospace environment and simulate spaceflight in exception of the training on the general knowledge of astrology, geography, medicine, flying dynamics, rocket and spacecraft, etc. And at last, they have to go through a special examination for finally being accepted to carry out the spaceflight task.
The center for the research and testing of space technology built some six years ago is a large-scale engineering project of great importance specially invested by China to meet the needs of general-assembling, experimentation and testing of spaceship and large-sized satellites.
The center consists of ten major laboratories for the research and manufacture of spaceship in which many technological designing indexes of facilities and equipment have to reach the advanced level of the world. It has not only provided an incubator for "Shenzhou Spaceships" but also an important hardware guarantee for implementing the program of sustainable spaceflight as a whole.
As briefed, the vacuum environment simulator in the center, as an installation at the core for the experimentation on the ground before the launching of the manned-spaceship into the cosmos, has become the fifth large vacuum container of the world when it got succeeded in its trial testing in November 1997.
Up to now, the laboratory for specially developing the space-food has also come into being that is now being used for turning out "scores of varieties of foodstuff" for the astronauts to use in the space.
( October 25, 2002)
