JIUQUAN, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Born into a rural family in Caoxian County in east China's Shandong Province, Song Lingdong was captivated by space at the age of 13 when he watched the launch of Shenzhou-5 with his classmates.
The excitement of that moment set his dream of space travel in motion. Now a 34-year-old, he is one of three crew members aboard the Shenzhou-19 spaceship, making him the youngest astronaut in the group. He is also the first male astronaut born in the 1990s to participate in China's spaceflight missions.
When it was time to apply for college, he chose to enroll as a cadet at a flight academy, the path that brought him closest to his dream of space. He later became a pilot in the People's Liberation Army Air Force.
In 2018, China's selection of its third batch of astronauts reignited his dream of space travel. In September 2020, he officially joined the country's new astronaut team.
When Song joined the team, his performance was outstanding, but he was not selected for an important mission. Despite this setback, he became even more determined to intensify his training.
During his training, he shifted his focus from seeking speed to prioritizing steady progress, resulting in consistent improvements in his training scores. He also slowed down and stabilized his pace in daily life, even learning to fish to cultivate a sense of patience.
Having struggled with motion sickness since childhood, he experienced a strong physical reaction when he first began training on the rotating chair.
"I'm going to train anyway, and do it with a smile and enjoy the ride," he said to himself.
Through self-talk, he continuously adjusted his mindset and completed the training, covering over a hundred subjects across eight major categories in just over two years.
In 2023, after a comprehensive evaluation, he was successfully selected as a crew member of the Shenzhou-19 spaceflight mission.
At a press conference on Tuesday, he discussed the crew's training for the mission. "We were trained on the ground exactly as we will operate in space," he said, noting that they had conducted multiple simulations for the spacewalk.
"As an astronaut born in the 1990s, I feel deeply honored and proud to have the opportunity to serve my country and carry out the Shenzhou-19 mission. All of this is thanks to our great motherland, the efforts of generations of predecessors in the space industry, and most of all, this great new era," he said. ■