Top astronaut tells of plans for a Party branch in space
19/10/2007 9:39
Chinese astronauts may start a branch of the Communist Party of China in
space, the country's first astronaut, Yang Liwei, said yesterday.
China
has a 14-strong astronaut team, including Yang, and all are Party
members.
"If China has its own space station, the astronauts on mission
will carry out the regular activities of a CPC branch in space in the way we do
on Earth, such as learning the Party's policies and exchanging opinions on the
Party's decisions," said Yang, a delegate to the Party's national congress in
Beijing.
"If we establish a Party branch in space, it would also be the
'highest' of its kind in the world," said Yang, who is also deputy director of
the China Astronaut Research and Training Center.
According to the CPC
Constitution, a grassroots Party organization should be established where there
are three or more members. The latest official figure shows that China has more
than 73 million Party members and about 3.6 million grassroots Party
organizations.
"Like foreign astronauts having their beliefs, we believe
in Communism, which is also a spiritual power," said Yang. "We may not pray in
the way our foreign counterparts do, but the common belief has made us more
united in space, where there is no national boundary, to accomplish our
missions."
China successfully sent Yang into orbit in the Shenzhou V
spacecraft in 2003 and two years later astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng
completed a five-day flight in the Shenzhou VI.
The Shenzhou VII is
expected to carry three astronauts next year and they may perform their first
spacewalk during the flight.
"We will see more international cooperation
in space in the future and the different beliefs of astronauts will not be a
'trouble' for the cooperation," said Yang.
"Cooperation is the inevitable
trend of the development of the world's space industry and Chinese astronauts
will also participate in international operations like peacekeeping, environment
protection and rescue in space, which require our astronauts to increase their
sense of cooperation and responsibilities as members of a global
village."
Yang's center has been working with the Aerospace School of the
Beijing-based Tsinghua University since 2006 to provide masters-level degree
training for the astronauts.
"New courses include the law of space, the
history of aviation and others on the cultures of different countries," said
Yang.
In addition, the astronauts have been learning English and
Russian.
"Now, it's no problem for us to communicate with foreign
colleagues in English and Russian," he said.
A blueprint approved by the
State Council, China's Cabinet, sets out plans for spacewalking, spacecraft
rendezvous and docking and the set-up of a space laboratory.
Xinhua
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