China sends its first astronaut (宇航员), Yang Liwei, into space in 2003. Now, Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu are doing the Shenzhou XIlI mission (任务) in space. Do you want to be an astronaut like them?
Keep healthy
To be an astronaut, you need to be very healthy. You have to see clearly and it is important for you not to have some small problems. For example, a bad tooth could get worse in space.
Be strong
In China, you must be good at flying planes before you can be an astronaut. You must fly over 25 days safely. What's more, you need to make your body strong like players by running, swimming and doing other sports. Because you will wear a 200-kilo coat and do work underwater for nearly half a day with no food and drinks. This is like going on a spacewalk.
Learn science
Knowledge is important as well. Astronauts take 60 subjects to get ready for a mission, such as math, English, art, geography and many more. So they will know what to do when there are accidents in the mission.
Do you know?
Though (尽管) you are really great to be an astronaut, maybe you will never go to space. In the Shenzhou XIII mission, for example, only three astronauts can go into space. There are another 13 astronauts that go, but they are still important to the space programme.
