奇速英语

来自太空讲台的科学课

On Thursday, a Chinese astronaut returned a science class from a space station under construction in the country. The lecture mainly explained how weightlessness affects buoyancy(浮力) and the movement of objects and optics(光学). Primary students from five cities, including Beijing and Hong Kong, interacted with the astronaut. The event was also open to the public through the live stream.

Wang Yaping, the only woman on the station, served as the main instructor, with the support of Ye Guangfu, and the commander-in-chief, Zhai Zhigang, who operated the camera. Wang taught similar lessons while riding one of China’s early experimental stations in 2013.

The three arrived at the station in October with a six-month stay, preparing the main Tianhe module(舱) for the arrival of two additional modules named Mengtian and Wentian, primarily before completion by the end of next year. Wang became the first Chinese female to do EVA last month. She and Zhai spent six hours outside the module installing the equipment and testing it with the robot service arm at the station.

Their mission, Shenzhou 13, has been China’s longest and third country after Russia and the United States since it first introduced humans into space in 2003. The three are the second crew members of the permanent station, which weighs about 66 tons when completed, much smaller than the International Space Station, which launched the first module in 1998, and weighs about 450 tons. The crew is evaluating the living conditions of Tianhe while installing equipment in preparation for the expansion of the station.