China concludes its first astronaut cave-training mission
Baku, January 6, AZERTAC
China's first astronaut cave-training mission has been completed in its southwestern Chongqing Municipality, with 28 astronauts having taken part, according to Xinhua.
Organized and led by the China Astronaut Research and Training Center (CARTC), the nearly month-long training mission covered more than 10 subjects, including environmental monitoring, cave mapping, simulated space-to-ground communications and team-focused psychological training.
The astronauts were divided into four teams, each spending six days and five nights in a natural cave where the average temperature hovered at eight degrees Celsius and humidity reached 99 percent. They were required to conduct cave exploration, scientific research, logistics management and life-support operations. Along the way they squeezed through ultra-narrow passages, rappelled down sheer walls, endured prolonged cold and dampness, and pushed their physical limits.
Additionally, they had to conquer the mental pressure stemming from absolute darkness and sensory deprivation.
"The training was designed to sharpen astronauts' capabilities in hazard response, autonomous operation, teamwork, emergency decision making and scientific survey, as well as to improve physical endurance and mental toughness in extreme environments," said Wu Bin from the CARTC. "It was also a comprehensive evaluation for them."
For astronaut instructor Jiang Yuan, mental toughness is a critical quality needed for spaceflights. "A cave is the typical extreme of confinement and isolation," she said. "It creates psychological stress such as sensory deprivation, uncertain risk and the social constriction of being cut off."
The training therefore offers high scientific value for studying and intervening in astronauts' psychological responses under truly extreme conditions.
"It was so dark that I couldn't see my own hands in front of my face," said astronaut Tang Hongbo, who was involved in the Shenzhou-12 and Shenzhou-17 spaceflight missions, when speaking about conditions in the cave in Chongqing. As a member of China's second batch of astronauts, he served as the commander of the second team to enter the cave.
"In that kind of darkness, the mental pressure is overwhelming," Tang noted.
Astronaut Ye Guangfu, meanwhile, was a crew member of the Shenzhou-13 and Shenzhou-18 spaceflight missions. He took part in cave training in Europe in 2016 and served as one of the training directors for the cave mission in Chongqing. Ye said such training both broadens and deepens China's astronaut-preparation system.
It forges the full spectrum of skills needed to operate in a truly extreme environment, he explained, and will strongly support longer space station missions and future crewed lunar flights.
"Compared with the cave training in Europe, our support team inside the cave intervened as little as possible," Ye said. "This approach pushed astronauts to rely on their own judgment, unlocking both individual initiative and their full problem-solving potential."
Zhu Yangzhu, China's first spaceflight engineer, was a member of the first team to enter the cave. "The cave was sealed, in complex terrain, dark and wet," he said. "It re-created the solitude and unknowns of deep-space exploration, challenging our physical and mental limits."
"The training drilled into us how vital teamwork is, honed our emergency-response skills and stress tolerance, and gave us priceless know-how for the missions ahead."
To find a venue that replicates the extremes of space, researchers of the CARTC since 2016 scouted more than 10 caves across seven provincial-level regions, including Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Anhui and Chongqing. Rating each based on the training challenge, geological stability and basic life-safety, they selected the cave deep in the mountains of Wulong District, Chongqing.
The CARTC will run the same cave-training mission for astronauts who have not yet taken part, as well as for all new recruits.
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