2nd LD: First live class held from China’s space station

BEIJING, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) — The first live class from China’s space station was held on Thursday afternoon, given by Shenzhou-13 crew members Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu to students on Earth.

The class began at 3:40 p.m. (Beijing Time), with a total of 1,420 students attending the lecture from five classrooms across China. The primary classroom is located in the China Science and Technology Museum. Classrooms have also been set up in Nanning in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Wenchuan County in Sichuan Province, Hong Kong and Macao.

Wang, assisted by the two other crew members, gave the students a tour of the living and working areas of the space station.

She showed them the microwave, water dispenser and refrigerator in the space kitchen. She opened the mini-fridge and took out a fresh apple.

In response to a Hong Kong student’s question about water, Wang said the water they drink is recycled, noting that there is no difference in taste between regular and recycled water. With a water recycling system, full use is made of every drop of water in the space station, she said.

Wang said the astronauts may look a little chubby and puffy as the microgravity in space can affect blood circulation. They use a treadmill, spin bike and resistance bands to stay healthy. She showed the students how to increase their upper limb strength with the bike by putting her hands on the pedals and floating upside down.

Zhai introduced the special uniform Ye was wearing during the class. According to Zhai, it is called a “penguin jumpsuit” and it has multiple elastic bands inside it to help the astronauts maintain their muscle strength.

Ye then demonstrated experiments related to cell growth in the weightless environment in space. They compared the growth and shape of cells in artificial gravity and zero-gravity, so as to study their changing rules and mechanisms.

Ye showed the students images of myocardial cells observed under a fluorescence microscope. “They look amazing in space, as if they are beating,” he said, explaining that the beating and gleaming occurred as the living cells had a bioelectrical reaction.

The three Chinese astronauts entered space aboard the Shenzhou-13 spaceship, and entered China’s space station on Oct. 16, embarking on the country’s longest-ever crewed space station construction mission.

In June 2013, Chinese female astronaut Wang Yaping, assisted by the two other crew members aboard the Shenzhou-10 spacecraft, delivered the country’s first live space lecture to over 60 million schoolchildren across China.

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