55 year old veteran Deng Qingming becomes a backup astronaut for the fourth time

Looking up at the sky, in the huge roar, under the dazzling white tail flame, the shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft will rush to the sky tomorrow morning with the hope and dream of the Chinese people.

On January 5, 1998, the Chinese people's Liberation Army (PLA) astronaut team was established. The first group of 14 Chinese astronauts solemnly swore in front of the five-star red flag at the Beijing Space City, opening a new page in China's space history.

Eight of China's first 14 astronauts, including Yang Liwei, Nie Haisheng and Jing Haipeng, have long dreamed of space, while five have left the team. Deng Qingming is the only one who has never performed a flying mission and is still in active service.

For Deng Qingming, 55, this is the fourth time that he has entered the backup group, which also means that he once again lost touch with Feitian dream.

Looking back at the shenzhou-12 mission, Nie Haisheng, as commander-in-chief, also entered the backup crew in Shenzhou-5, Shenzhou-7 and shenzhou-9 missions. Now he has a third chance to land in space.

The dream is too far away, far away in the vast sky. Dream is also close, close in Deng Qingming every down-to-earth day and night.

On the road of pursuing dreams, Deng Qingming never stopped. They are backup astronauts, they are also great.

Young people leaving their hometown

The story of rural youth and the vast space starts from the year of senior high school.

Deng Qingming's alma mater, Huangpi middle school

In 1984, when the news of air force recruitment came from Yihuang County, 50 kilometers away, Deng Qingming, sitting at his desk, never thought that a seemingly impossible opportunity would tie him up with the starry sky he had looked up to for countless times. At that time, he hesitated. Finally, the unconditional encouragement from his parents and the personal heroism plot accumulated from his movies made Deng Qingming make up his mind to make his first and biggest "crossover" attempt in his life.

That year, Deng Qingming completed the identity transformation from a student to a pilot student.

So far, Li Qinghua still remembers the "grand occasion" when his brother left his hometown. The open space at the entrance of the village was rarely so busy. Many elders gathered to see him off, while he and other children gathered around him. They didn't know what happened. He only noticed that his father was very happy at that time, but his mother secretly wiped a tear, "that was the first time my brother went back to the county, Later, my brother wrote to me that he saw the neon lights there. "

Deng Qingming's alma mater, Huangpi middle school

The gasping green skin train took Deng Qingming all the way north, but the beautiful imagination of "letting birds fly in the sky" did not follow. In Hebei Baoding aviation preparation school, Deng Qingming went through the hard training that he had never experienced as a student. After eight months of pre school training, he was assigned to Xinjiang Hami eighth Flight College. It was not until half a year later that he really had the opportunity to contact flight training.

Every other week on the day of leaving his hometown, Deng Qingming would send a letter to his family.

Lit the kerosene lamp, a family of six around the table, as the youngest, miss his brother Li Qinghua always volunteered to read letters. Li Qinghua recalled that such a time was always warm and hard. Everyone wanted to know about his brother's recent situation, but they couldn't bear to hear the pain of training“ The pressure of competition is better than physical exertion. " Li Qinghua said that his brother once mentioned in a letter to his family that four pilot pilots were recruited in Fuzhou, but he was the only one left. He always said that he was a child going out of the countryside, and he was willing to bear hardships, and he didn't want to disappoint his family.

Dream journey

From the sky to space, Deng Qingming's 14 year answer paper made his family feel proud and filled the gap in the Chinese astronaut echelon.

On January 5, 1998, Deng Qingming and 13 other comrades in arms, including Yang Liwei, became the first batch of astronauts of the Chinese people's Liberation Army.

For Li Qinghua, because of his elder brother, the distant and deep space seems to have been shortened. Li Qinghua clearly remembers that in the year when his brother entered the space team, he and his mother went to Beijing together. When visiting the space city, his mother once told his brother that she hoped to witness his brother fly into space in her lifetime.

Deng Qingming's deeds exhibition in Yihuang No.3 Middle School

Unfortunately, the old man's wish was not realized, but Deng Qingming never stopped pursuing his dream.

There is only one word difference between flying and spaceflight, but from the pilot who soars nine days to the astronaut who rushes out of the earth, it still has to undergo a lot of tempering. In the face of vacuum, weightlessness and other uncertain factors in space, long-term isolation from family and society, and months of continuous working time, astronauts are required to have higher requirements than pilots in terms of physical fitness, knowledge and skills, emergency decision-making and psychological adjustment ability.

There are many and demanding training subjects for astronauts, some of which even make people feel uncomfortable. Take the vestibular function swivel chair training as an example, the pilots only need to stick to it for 2 minutes, but the requirements for astronauts are increased by 5 times. Liu Yang, China's first female astronaut, once mentioned in an interview that she suffered when she first participated in vestibular functional swivel chair training. At the fifth minute of training, the fierce dizziness and nausea made her pale and sweaty.

In order to realize his dream of space, Deng Qingming gave up almost everything. He gave up his vacation and spare time, entrusted his family to his wife, and devoted himself to training. In 2003, Yang Liwei made history by flying into the sky on Shenzhou-5. As a comrade in arms, Deng Qingming is proud of himself, but also has the power to fly. He hopes that the day when he looks at the earth in the space capsule will come soon.

Backup life

The dream is not out of reach. Feitian's opportunity came to Deng Qingming three times.

Shen 9, Shen 10, Shen 11, Deng Qingming entered the space mission backup crew three times in a row, but failed to realize his dream.

"The gap is very small, that is, the kind of gap of a fraction of a point." In an interview in front of the camera, Deng Qingming spread his hands and shook his head slightly, revealing some helplessness in his words. He said that such a small gap made him stop in front of the launch tower and let him miss his dream.

Compared with Shenjiu, the defeat of Shenshi made Deng Qingming feel more sad. That year, Deng Qingming's five comrades in arms, who came from China's first batch of astronauts, had to suspend their flights and training because of their age. This also makes Deng Qingming, 47, realize that age may gradually become a problem that he has to face to restrict his dream realization.

Calligraphy and painting by Deng Qingming

Chen Quan, who was suspended that year, was in the same echelon as Deng Qingming in the Shenshi mission. When talking about the dream of flying to the sky, Chen Quan encouraged Deng Qingming to continue to work hard and not give up. He said that "no matter the main part or the backup, it is the duty of an astronaut.".

As Chen Quan said, Deng Qingming never thought of giving up. At the end of 2013, shortly after the "Shenshi" mission, Deng Qingming found a small kidney stone in his physical examination. For ordinary people, similar small stones need not be treated. But astronauts can not, especially in the weightless environment in space, there is the possibility of dissociation. On the long way to pursue his dream, Deng Qingming's flying dream was hindered by a small stone for the first time. Therefore, he had two consecutive operations to remove the stone completely.

In Deng Qingming's view, Shenxi is the closest he has ever been to his dream.

The day before the launch, the general headquarters held a meeting to study and decide on the final candidate for the mission. After the meeting, four astronauts on standby were ordered to carry out the Shenzhou 11 mission by Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong, while Deng Qingming received a backup notice again.

Deng Qingming once described the scene like this: after hearing the result, I was really confused. The whole hall was surprisingly quiet. I felt that most people focused on me.

When talking about his feelings, Deng Qingming was speechless, but he couldn't speak. He stood up and gave Jing Haipeng a hug. Embracing for a long time is like rubbing years of hard work and sustenance of flying dream into the body of comrades in arms.

Still on the road

Six flights, six triumphs.

From Yang Liwei's solo exploration to Jing Haipeng's three missions to space, in the past 18 years, 11 astronauts have asked six questions and nine days. The names of these space heroes have long been known by the public. However, of the 21 astronauts in China's first and second groups, 10 have not yet realized their flying dream. Among them, Li Qinglong, Wu Jie, Chen Quan, pan zhanchun, and Zhao Chuandong, five members from the first batch of astronaut echelons, because of the suspension of flight and training, are no longer likely to fly to the sky. The other four astronauts from the second group of astronauts still have the hope of flying to the sky in the future.

Calligraphy and painting by Deng Qingming

Only Deng Qingming is the only member of the first batch of astronauts echelon who has not carried out a flying mission and is still in active service.

It's always sensitive to mention Feitian in front of my brother. Li Qinghua said that in the past few years, whether it was on the phone or a rare meeting every year, family members would not take the initiative to talk about flying apsaras. This time, my brother took the initiative to call and told him that he had not been able to carry out the task of God 12. "Speaking of the result, he was very calm."

As a family member, Li Qinghua has a very contradictory idea about whether to fly or not. He hoped that when the country needed it, his brother would shine and glow. He also sincerely hoped that at the age of knowing the destiny, his brother would finally get what he wanted. But he also inevitably worried that if he went to heaven at such an age, his body would not be able to bear it.

No flying, still a hero. In the eyes of the family, in the words handed down from father to father in his hometown, and in the hearts of the people all over the country, this is an indisputable affirmation.

Today's Deng Qingming is no longer a rural youth who was on the green train and was curious to observe the outside world, but he never stopped in his flying dream of inquiring into the sky.

In the future, there may be countless "Deng Qingming" who, with their own backup lives, will carry China's aerospace industry to the Starry Sea and the vast sky.