"Welcome to China Space Station!" China's Shenzhou-14 astronauts greeted the global youth via video on Thursday at an event that gathered over 600 imaginative paintings and thousands of questions on space from over 20 countries and regions.

Shenzhou-14 crew, Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe, joined in from space and lauded the participants' passion and curiosity at the event jointly hosted by China Media Group and China Science and Technology Museum. 

"We've seen your art and they're full of imagination!" said Chen, commander of Shenzhou-14 spacecraft. "The paintings are incredibly fascinating!"

Created by young people, ranging from preschoolers to college students, the paintings tell intriguing stories – astronauts meet aliens in one picture, while another shows China's rice breeds growing on another planet.

"We can totally see your passion for space. In the paintings, you want to be a bird flying to the space, do interplanetary travels, play with new friends on another planet, even travel with us in Shenzhou-14 spacecraft," Liu said.

"Each one of you is awesome!" 

Cai shared a brief answer to the most-asked question from youngsters: How do taikonauts (Chinese astronauts) live and work in the space station?

"In the space station, we work and rest just as we live on Earth, although it feels strange to be in a micro-gravity environment. The Wentian lab module launched in July expanded our living space and Mengtian lab module will be the next," Cai said.

Currently, the Wentian module is docked at the front of the core module, forming an I-shaped structure. Eventually, the station will form a T shape, with the core module Tianhe in the center and the two lab modules, Wentian and Mengtian, on either side of it.

"There will be three more taikonauts to join us via Shenzhou-15 spacecraft by the end of this year. It's going to be six of us and more fun," he said.

The Shenzhou-14 commander gave his best wishes to the youth. "The space is our shared home. You have such an imagination for the space and we believe your dreams will come true."