First Chinese Man in Space—Yang Liwei

◎张开兰

杨利伟搭乘神舟五号飞船进行的太空之旅不仅是对个人极限的挑战，也是对中国科技和航天梦想的重大贡献，成为中国现代科技史上的一个里程碑。他本人也因此成了航天英雄，受到了全国人民的广泛尊敬和爱戴。一起来了解下他的首次太空飞行故事吧！

On October 15, 2003, China’s first manned spacecraft, Shenzhou V, the was successfully1)launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and sent its astronaut Yang Liwei to the space with the “Long March CZ-2F” carrier rocket.With the launch, China became the third country, after Russia and the United States, to has the ability to carry out the manned space flights.

Yang Liwei was born in 1965 in Suizhong County in Northeast China’s Liaoning Province.

In September 1983, Yang Liwei joined the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA)and entered the No.8 Aviation College of the PLA Air Force.Yang graduated in 1987 with the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree.

In January 1998, Yang Liwei was selected as a member of the group of Chinese astronauts set to train to fly the Project 921 spacecraft.He was one of 14 chosen from among 1,500 pilot2)candidates.The team underwent five years of3)rigorous physical,psychological, and technical training at the Astronaut Training Base in Beijing.

Yang Liwei noted the study was much more difficult than that in college.There were more than 30 subjects he had to have a good command of.Yang’s English was not good, so in order to improve in this area, he often called his wife to serve as his English learning partner.Practice makes perfect.At the exam, Yang got a score of 100.

Besides some basic lessons in aviation dynamics, air dynamics,geophysics, meteorology, and astronomy, the astronauts also had to learn survival skills under extreme conditions in case their capsule landed anywhere on the earth, whether on land or at sea.

After a long time of training, on September 20, 2003, the 14 astronauts began to exercise in the real Shenzhou V spacecraft at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

On October 15, 2003, Yang was launched into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.In space, Yang completed 14 orbits and traveled more than 600,000 km, before finishing China’s first manned space flight,and again standing on Chinese soil at 7:00 am, on October 16, 2003.

His flight not only represents a breakthrough in China’s space industry, but also greatly contributes to the world’s space industry.

Yang hopes that more young people will become interested in participating in space travel.Yang said our nation’s manned space program continued to gain4)momentum and our nation would continue to5)recruit young candidates.He hopes more and more young people can be a part of this in the near future.

1) launchv.发射

2) candidaten.候选人

3) rigorousadj.严格的

4) momentumn.推动力；动力；势头

5) recruitv.招募

2003 年10 月15 日，中国第一艘载人飞船神舟五号在酒泉卫星发射中心成功发射，用长征二号F 运载火箭将航天员杨利伟送入太空。这次发射，让中国成为继俄罗斯和美国之后第三个具备载人航天飞行能力的国家。

杨利伟出生于1965 年，是中国东北辽宁省绥中县人。

1983 年9 月，杨利伟加入中国人民解放军，进入中国人民解放军空军第八飞行学院学习。他于1987 年毕业，获得学士学位。

1998 年1 月，杨利伟被选为中国航天员组的一员去训练飞行“921 工程”宇宙飞船。他是从1500 名飞行员候选人中选出的14 人之一。这支队伍在北京的中国航天员科研训练中心接受了五年严格的身体、心理和技术训练。

杨利伟指出，航天员培训要比在大学里学习困难得多。他必须掌握30 多门 科目。杨利伟的英语不好，所以为了提高英语水平，他经常打电话给他的妻子，让妻子担任他的英语学习伙伴。熟能生巧，在考试中，杨利伟取得了满分100 分的成绩。

除了一些航空动力学、空气动力学、地球物理学、气象学和天文学的基础课程外，航天员还必须学习在极端条件下的生存技能，以防他们的太空舱降落在地球陆地上或海上的任何地方。

经过长时间的训练，2003 年9 月20 日，14名航天员在酒泉卫星发射中心真正的神舟五号飞船上开始了训练。

2003 年10 月15 日，杨利伟从酒泉卫星发射中心发射升空。2003 年10 月16 日上午7 点，他完成了14 圈飞行，飞行了60 多万千米，完成了中国首次载人航天飞行，再次站在了中国的土地上。

他的飞行不仅代表了中国航天事业的重大突破，也为世界航天事业做出了巨大贡献。

杨利伟希望更多的年轻人对参与太空飞行感兴趣。杨利伟说，我们国家的载人航天计划持续发展壮大，我们国家将持续招募年轻的飞行员候选人。他希望在不久的将来，越来越多的年轻人能参与其中。