At about 10:00 on April 16, 2022, the "Shenzhou XIII" manned spacecraft returned to the capsule and successfully landed in the predetermined area of the Dongfeng landing field.
At about 10:50, the first astronaut successfully exited the cabin, and he smiled at the camera
"I feel very good now. Report to the motherland and the people: We have completed the Thirteenth Flight mission of God very satisfactorily..."
The astronaut was Zhai Zhigang, and this was his second flight.
01: Son of the Old Zhai family
Zhai Zhigang was born in 1966 in a small village in Longjiang County, Heilongjiang Province, with two older brothers and three older sisters.
Zhai Zhigang was the youngest son of the old Zhai family, and his mother was more than forty years old when he gave birth to him.
All along, the conditions of their home have not been very good. When my father was alive, he could barely make ends meet.
Later, his father died, and his mother supported the family alone.
No matter how hard life is, in the heart of Zhai Zhigang's mother, she has always adhered to a belief that no child can be left behind in reading, and all children must be provided.
Although my mother was illiterate, it was quite rare to have such a thought in their poor little mountain village.
Every day, for the sake of children's life and learning, they sell fried melon seeds for children to finish primary school and junior high school.
Zhai Zhigang saw that his mother was so old, and he still had to get up early every day to greedily ask for a living for them, and he felt sorry for his mother, so he had the idea of dropping out of school and going home to help his mother work.
Zhai Zhigang told his mother his thoughts, "Mom, no matter what, I won't go to this school." Unexpectedly, my mother was very angry when she heard it: "My mother can't read, and she can't tell any big truths, but if you look for a reason, you must study!" ”
Seeing that his mother's attitude was so tough, Zhai Zhigang could only go to school hard and continue his high school studies.
At that time, their family's staple food was brown rice noodles, and life was very difficult. But as long as Zhai Zhigang proposed to his mother to pay tuition and buy learning materials, his mother would always agree, never hesitate, and constantly urge him to do it.
Fortunately, thanks to his mother's persistence, he has the current Zhai Zhigang.
02 : Fully engaged in the aerospace industry
Listening to Zhai Zhigang, when he was a teenager, he did not have any grand blue sky dreams. I was fascinated by airplanes from junior high school.
That would be learning the English word "plane," which had a picture of an airplane on it, and he was out of his mind when he saw it.
In other words, Zhai Zhigang's dream of flying originated from a small English word "plane".
At that time, Zhai Zhigang could not imagine that his future self would become an astronaut with the opportunity to explore space, he only knew that he had to study hard and could not live up to his mother's hard work.
Emperor Tian did not pay off, and Zhai Zhigang, who was diligent and hardworking, was successfully admitted to the Flight Academy.
Within a few years of flying school, Zhai Zhigang underwent professional training and stepped into the position of flight instructor step by step.
In 1996, the mainland began to select the first batch of astronauts, with superb fighter piloting experience, coupled with excellent physical fitness, Zhai Zhigang passed the selection layer by layer, and successfully became one of the first 14 astronauts on the mainland.
The training of astronauts was even more brutal, and at the time of the "God Five" alternative training, Zhai Zhigang's old mother died of illness. However, in order to let Zhai Zhigang train with peace of mind, the family concealed the news.
Until he finished training and called home, Zhai Zhi had just learned the news of his mother's death.
Hearing this bad news, Zhai Zhigang, who has always had a strong personality, cried for the first time. That day, he lay at home in bed without saying a word. His wife, Zhang Shujing, said that after marrying him for so many years, it was the first time she saw him so sad.
The mother's greatest wish has always been to watch her son fly into the sky, but in the end she has not been able to do so. Although the death of his mother made Zhai Zhigang very painful, and it was also his biggest regret on the road to chasing his dreams, he was not depressed.
In the days that followed, with the mission of home and country, Zhai Zhigang worked harder and was always ready to wait for the opportunity to come.
In 2008, Zhai Zhigang finally ushered in the opportunity to "fly", that is, to complete the task of "Shen Qi" with his comrades-in-arms, Zhai Zhigang was not only one of the crew members, but also had the honor of being the commander.
On this mission, Zhai Zhigang completed Chinese's first spacewalk, which is why he is called "the fastest Chinese".
Many people think that Zhai Zhigang is too lucky, but his road to pursuing his dreams is not easy.
In 2003, the "God Five" successfully flew into the sky and created a new history. At the same time, the world also remembers yang Liwei, the first "space hero" of the mainland.
But what many people don't know is that Zhai Zhigang at that time was a "backup astronaut", and the popular point was "substitute", and in 2005, when the "Shen Liu" flew into the sky, Zhai Zhigang, who was ready, was still a "backup astronaut".
But even after doing two "substitutes", Zhai Zhigang has never given up, or even relaxed. Zhai Zhigang once said: "Even if it is a backup, the requirements are also very high, and we must be prepared ideologically, psychologically, and technically at all times."
In fact, each of us who performs the task is the same as the task ourselves, as long as I work hard, before the body and mind into the training, I have no regrets. ”
It is with this mentality that he insists on training and exercise day after day, and finally gets the opportunity to "fly", and successfully completes the task of "walking in space", making China the third country in the world to achieve space capsule.
In 2021, 13 years later, Zhai Zhigang was once again given the "God Thirteen" flying mission, rushed to the space station, and successfully completed the task, he was a well-deserved national hero at that time.
03: The woman behind it
For Zhai Zhigang, everyone sees his success, but in his heart, his success is inseparable from two women in addition to his mother.
The first woman was his eldest sister Zhai Pengsu.
The eldest sister is like a mother, this sentence is not wrong at all for Zhai Zhigang.
The difference between the two sisters and brothers is 22 years old, and the eldest sister has always taken care of Zhai Zhigang as a child.
The mother is old, and it is very difficult to take care of the children, and the eldest sister plays the role of both the sister and the role of the "mother". Changing diapers, getting up at night to cover the quilt, these are all things that the eldest sister is doing.
Later, the eldest sister got married, left the house, and tried to take care of her younger brother at any time.
When he gave birth to a child, he took Zhai Zhigang to his home and took his son and his brother with him; when Zhai Zhigang was in junior high school, his eldest sister took him to his side to provide him with school.
Zhai Zhigang's entrance to the Flight Academy was also determined because of the encouragement of his eldest sister, so on his growth path, the eldest sister was an absolute hero.
The second woman was his wife, Zhang Shujing.
His wife, Zhang Shujing, is a worker specializing in the development of space food.
She fell in love with Zhai Zhigang at first sight, because most of her family members were aerospace workers, and when she first met Zhai Zhigang, Zhang Shujing was very fond of him.
Over the years, Zhai Zhigang has devoted himself to the aerospace industry, and his wife Zhang Shujing has become his strongest backing. But in fact, in the process of selecting astronauts, Zhang Shujing directly proposed to divorce Zhai Zhigang.
If nothing else, because she was worried that her physical examination would affect her husband's future, she prepared herself in advance: "If there is a problem with my medical examination, then we will divorce." ”
Fortunately, Zhang Shujing's physical examination was no problem.
From this incident, it is not difficult to see that his wife Zhang Shujing really loves Zhai Zhigang deeply. Also because of his wife's move, Zhai Zhigang strengthened his love for his wife.
The eldest sister Zhai Supeng and his wife Zhang Shujing, the two women who love Zhai Zhigang the most, supported him without regret, encouraged him, and silently paid for him when he was seriously struggling for the mainland's aerospace industry.
It can be said that without their support, there would be no Zhai Zhigang who "flew" twice.
04：
From pilots to astronauts, from backup to outgoing missions, Zhai Zhigang realized his dream of flying.
But he never stopped there, for him every day was new, he demanded that every day start from scratch.
There is still a long way to go, and there are still many challenges.
Zhai Zhigang said, "I have no stopping steps, only the clarion call to forge ahead."
Our aerospace hero Zhai Zhigang is always ready to explore the sky again.
——The end of this article, thank you for reading——