The three astronauts who took part in China's Shenzhou-13 mission held their first press conference since returning from space 74 days ago, in Beijing on Tuesday afternoon.
China's Shenzhou-13 astronauts, or taikonauts, Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu, returned home safely on April 17 after a record-breaking 183-day mission in space.
Jing Haipeng, deputy director of China's manned space program's astronaut system, briefed on the recovery situation of the Shenzhou-13 crew and the follow-up plans.
The crew has undergone several stages, including quarantine and recovery, and are currently under further observation after the return.
The taikonauts are in good physical and mental health, and their medical test results are fine. Their muscle strength, stamina and bone density have recovered well, as expected.
They will restart regular training once all recovery tasks are completed.
Untold stories about space missions
The three taikonauts shared their thoughts and reflections on their space trips when meeting with the media.
Zhai said the team communicated with the following Shenzhou-14 crew via video to prepare them to be more familiar with all the locations and guidance of the equipment in space. "We also shared our experience face to face with them after the return."
Interestingly, the Shenzhou-14 crew asked more trivial life hacks in space instead.
"Clearly they've got enough training for all the daily experiments and operations," Zhai said. Trivia such as how to clip toe nails and best positions for good sleep in space are more popular questions among the taikonauts.
"Clipping toe nails definitely looks easier than done. It's hard to keep feet close and keep all the nail clippings not floating around," Zhai said. "And we have different tricks to sleep better."
Wang Yaping, the first Chinese woman who stayed in China's space station and a crew member for both Shenzhou-10 and Shenzhou-13 missions, commented the Shenzhou-13 mission gave her a feeling of "traversing the space."
"I felt I opened a door to another space. I was truly touched deep inside when I floated to the outside of the module and flew in the vast space and enjoyed the light from there. I never expected the depth of it. And our blue planet is there showing the colors full of life. It's tranquility and beauty. I'd never experienced that before."
Wang also shared her enthusiasm in giving science lectures in space to the youngsters on the ground. "I'm expecting to have more interactions with the youngsters and be their teacher to ignite their passion for aerospace."
"I'm looking forward to those youngsters participating in our country's space innovation and contributing to the space station."
Zhai Zhigang described the return journey from space as "thrilling" as astronauts can be more sensitive to noise, hyper-gravity and impacts after the six-month stay in the orbit.
"We seemed not to have much movement when returning back to Earth in the capsule, but actually, we were experiencing waves of impacts, constantly," Zhai recalled.
"Each impact is necessary before we returned to Earth. It's thrilling to experience when the speed of the spaceship decreased rapidly," he added.
Ye congratulated Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti for her second space mission who had once trained with Ye. "Congratulations to Samantha for flying into space again and we wish her and the crew a successful mission," he said.
Ye said China's space station welcomes astronauts from other countries and he looked forward to a joint flight with them to the space station.
Since the Shenzhou-12 delivered the first crew to the core module of China's space station, three batches of the taikonauts have been sent to space. In addition, the crew of Shenzhou-14 and Shenzhou-15 will meet up in the space station.
Ye said every crew has done the best to accomplish the tasks and prepare for the next crew. "We believe Shenzhou-14 and Shenzhou-15 will accomplish the mission to complete the construction of the space station and we are looking forward to celebrating the great achievement."