2019少年太空人體驗營

The Young Astronaut Training Camp was a life changing experience for me. It has been a fun ride right from the first round of the elimination process, a knowledge based assessment, to the second and third round, leadership and communication skill assessment.

Some unfortunate events happened and we ended up splitting into groups while travelling to Beijing, we faced a total delay of right around 24 hours. Passing by DaLian in the process. Even though there was a delay and we were behind schedule, the 16 “fallen” junior astronauts got to spend some quality times together. And really got to know each other more. We learnt more about space engineering and astronomy in general. To me meeting new friends and creating bonds is the most important thing. Countless hours of fun and games throughout the trip creating long lasting friendships. 

The best sight of the camp to many might be the JiuQuan satellite launch centre as it showed us how insignificant we are individually yet we can achieve so much more together. Getting close to the old walls surrounding us in the JiayuGuan Great Wall museum, I felt a gateway to the ancient times. I also enjoyed the visit to the famous terracotta armies of the Qin Dynasty. Overall, the visit to the aerospace city was the coolest and most memorable to me. As a world class drone pilot and an engineering enthusiast, I got the chance to experience the space tech of my country. Having the chance to wear a space suit was super amazing! Eating dense nutritious space food was also an interesting experience, fitting 3 days worth of calories into a little energy bar! 

YATC 2019 is a very rare and precious opportunity which broadened my horizons, enabled me to learn the things that I’m into at a closer level, and most importantly I’ve learned that my home country is right up there with the big boys in terms of space exploration! I have high hopes that China will further develop their technology into new ground breaking discoveries! If I got the chance I’d definitely go again because the things you’ve learned, it’s priceless.