Chen Dong: from a Naughty Boy to an Inspiration

Chen Dong: from a Naughty Boy to an Inspiration Chen Dong, 39, was born into a working-class family in Luoyang, Henan Province. When he was in Grade Three, he trampled on the vegetables in the school playground for fun with his classmates. The vegetables were a gift for the teachers from the school. “I was very frightened after that,” Chen recalled. But Mr Yang, the teacher in charge of his class, took all the responsibility. Mr Yang said, “I know you didn’t really mean it, but you have to know we teachers won’t have any vegetables in the next few days. You have to think about others when you do such things.” Mr Yang’s tolerance taught Chen the sense of responsibility and further spurred his growth. “I began behaving myself, and I wanted to make the teachers happy,” said Chen. From a naught boy, he later became the class monitor. Chen joined the PLA Air Force in August 1997. “If responsibility was what I learned from being a class monitor, I learned the soldiers’ responsibility after becoming a soldier,” he said. Chen’s story with the space started by chance when he was in the middle school. One evening, he was lying on the ground looking at the sky along with his brother. “Is that a meteor?” Chen asked. “No, it’s a satellite,” answered his brother. Curiosity immediately gripped Chen’s heart, and he began frequenting the library, reading books on satellites and space. Fourteen years ago, Chen’s space dream was sparked again, when China’s first astronaut, Yang Liwei, was carried aloft by Shenzhou V spacecraft. After he discovered that China’s astronauts are selected among pilots, and that Yang Liwei used to be a combat aircraft pilot, Chen heard the calling. He was also a combat aircraft pilot at that time. “I wanted to fly higher, and to find out how it would feel like when flying out of the atmosphere,” said Chen. In 2009, Chen was one of the candidates selected by China for its second batch of astronauts. Much to his surprise, it was Yang Liwei who interviewed him. “The one-hour conversation with Yang made me firmly pursue my dream,” said Chen. “What would make me happier than being led into a team under the guidance of my idol?” But it took another six years for him to finally make his debut when he took off aboard the Shenzhou XI spacecraft on October 17, 2016. During the six years, he secluded himself from the outside world and devoted all his time to picking up aerospace knowledge. In just two years’ time, he passed all the exams of 58 major courses. Along with Jing Haipeng, Chen completed more than 3,000 hours of training before the final launch of Shenzhou XI spacecraft. “We can’t stop preparing until the last minute before the launch,” said Chen.