Published : 2024-11-04
Among the crew of China's Shenzhou-19 mission, the only female space flight engineer of China, Wang Haoze (王浩澤), may be the one who gets the most attention.
What are the stories of this female astronaut born in the "post-90s" generation? How did she gain the "ticket" for Shenzhou-19?
Wang Haoze likes to challenge unknown fields
Born in 1990 in Luanping, Hebei, Wang Haoze is a member of the Manchu ethnic minority. She is also China's second ethnic minority astronaut.
Wang's father is a traffic policeman, and her mother is a middle school teacher. The example set by her parents taught her from a young age that effort is necessary, and it was with this drive that Wang Haoze has always been at the top of her class.
After the college entrance exam, she was admitted to the Southeast University in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, majoring in Thermal Energy and Power Engineering.
During her undergraduate and graduate studies, Wang Haoze continued to demonstrate her stellar academic abilities, earning national scholarships and numerous honours.
But she was by no means a "nerd". Besides studying, she was also an athlete, who frequently represented her school in provincial sports competitions.
Wang also likes to challenge the unknown fields. She enjoys the sense of accomplishment from being able to do something she couldn’t do before, from understanding something she didn’t understand before.
It can also be seen through her resume. Her undergraduate major was Thermal Energy and Power Engineering; her postgraduate studies focused on plasma detonation; she engaged in preliminary research on rocket engines after graduation, and later became an aerospace engineer.
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Wang Haoze: Going to space for the country is a blessing
Especially in the field of aerospace, complex equations, mysterious parameters, and cryptic computational logic are all subjects of Wang Haoze's exploration and research.
"Mobilising all my brain cells, focusing entirely on exploration, is like passing levels in a game. After overcoming these difficult challenges one by one, you would feel a huge sense of happiness," Wang said.
In 2018, China selected its third batch of astronauts. Wang Haoze applied and passed rigorous selection process and became the only female in the third batch of astronauts.
When entering the astronaut brigade and seeing those space heroes who used to appear only on television now right in front of her, Wang felt it was like a dream.
That day, she wrote in her diary: "The greatest fortune in life is to take on one's mission when in the prime of one's life—to become an astronaut. I am fortunate. At the same time, to combine personal value with the needs of the motherland—going on a mission for the country—I am even happier."
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Wang Haoze is recognised as the "workaholic"
Astronauts must endure various harsh tests in complex environments during missions, which would challenge both the physical and psychological limits, so the training for Wang Haoze and her teammates is absolutely "hellish."
After 48 hours of desert survival training, Wang recorded her experience: "Sunny days are scorching, and rainy days are freezing. We felt the cruel temperature differences of dozens of degrees in the desert, and also experienced the romance of lying on the parachute cloth watching the starry sky."
After the sea training, Wang Haoze wrote: "Search and rescue at sea is a hundred times more thrilling than on land! The waves stirred up by the helicopter hit directly at us. Even when facing away, you can still feel the whistling sea wind hitting the back of your head, and the root of the ear being cut by the spray. Especially when the helicopter approaches, it is like torrential rain on the sea with dense splashes hitting noisily and the waves becoming fierce..."
Of course, none of this makes Wang Haoze back down. She is universally recognised as the "workaholic", and her achievements are not inferior to any male.
Wang Haoze: 3rd Chinese female astronaut to go into space
"We are now on a path full of challenges, rarely travelled by others, but I love this road. If it is full of thorns, we will cut through them; if it is lonely and desolate, we will travel together!" This is Wang Haoze's "combat declaration" after a major training.
In 2023, Wang was selected as one of the Shenzhou-19 crew, along with Cai Xuzhe (蔡旭哲) and Song Lingdong (宋令東) to carry out the mission.
She also became the third Chinese female astronaut to go into space, after Liu Yang (劉洋) and Wang Yaping (王亞平).
There will definitely be many female astronautical engineers in China's future, but at this moment, Wang Haoze is the only one.
Wang Haoze is full of confidence and anticipation for her space journey, saying before her mission: "Let every sunrise and sunset become a wonderful memory of the universe."
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