JIUQUAN, April 24 (Xinhua) -- From designing spacecraft to flying in one, Wang Jie, a crew member of China's Shenzhou-20 mission, is ready to write his chapter in the country's space exploration.
This profound professional transformation has filled him with unprecedented reverence. "I hold to the belief that if I do something, I shall go all in to do it well," Wang reflected each step along his career path at a pre-launch press conference on Wednesday.
The 35-year-old's space dream began in 2003, in a classroom in Urad Front Banner, Bayannur City of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, about 400 kilometers from the landing site of the Shenzhou-5 return capsule.
His middle school teacher wrote on the blackboard about astronaut Yang Liwei's triumphant return to Earth, which marked the completion of the country's first crewed space mission. Wang Jie watched intently, and his cosmic aspirations took root in that historic moment.
Dreaming of the stars, Wang enrolled at Shenyang Aerospace University in north China to study aircraft manufacturing engineering. After earning his bachelor's degree, he continued to study in mechanics at Beihang University in Beijing.
After obtaining his doctor's degree, Wang joined the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, devoting himself to cutting-edge spacecraft research and development.
At the CAST, Wang spearheaded critical research on micro-vibration suppression technology for the space station, a highly demanding challenge.
"Wang is an exceptionally focused designer with remarkable perseverance. No matter how complex the task is, he approaches it methodically and refines it to perfection," recalled his former mentor.
Faced with endless calculations, he always said, "Let me try again," "Let's discuss this together," or "I'll re-examine the problem." Over the years, his diligence earned him recognition as a seasoned lead designer.
Selected to be a member of China's third batch of astronauts in 2020, Wang faced steep challenges. Training in the weightlessness simulation water tank for extravehicular activities proved especially tough for him.
During the training, he had to wear an underwater training suit and use his hands to control body positioning while performing tasks like extravehicular transfers, moving on and off the robotic arm and assembling equipment. A single training session could last five to six hours, pushing his physical limits to the extreme.
"What impressed me most was installing the foot restraints," Wang recalled. "Unfamiliar body positioning and awkward force angles made it grueling." After emerging from the water tank, he was so exhausted that his hands trembled too violently to hold a thing.
Fellow astronaut Chen Zhongrui praised Wang's dedication. "He has a strong passion for learning and pushing himself to overcome his weaknesses. He consistently puts in extra effort and is often the last one to leave the physical training area," Chen said.
At the pre-launch press conference, he outlined his mission duties -- platform maintenance, equipment maintenance and repair, emergency malfunction handling, as well as space science experiments such as those on microgravity countermeasure technologies and human-machine collaboration systems.
"I never dared to slack off during training, and strived for every point in exams. Now, I have finally achieved my first flight, and I'm honored to contribute my efforts to advancing China's space endeavors," he told the press. ■