Unit 2 Heroes
Lesson 1 Modern Heroes
National Hero

China's first manned spaceship lifted off at 9 a.m.on Wednesday, October 15th,2003 in Jiuquan,Gansu province.The spaceship,called Shenzhou V, was carrying China's first astronaut,Yang Liwei Yang,who was a pilot in the army, was chosen from 1,500 other army pilots and started training for his space flight in 1998. The launch was very successful."When the spaceshiop was lifting off, I could really feel the high gravity", said Yang Liwei.[00:48.04]"When the spaceship separated from the rocket, I suddenly got a feeling of soaring into the sky because of the zero gravity." During the 21-hour space flight, the Shenzhou V circled the earth 14 times. While the spaceship was circling the earth for the sixth time, Yang Liwei spoke with ground control in Gansu. He was also able to speak with his wife and 8-year-old son. Yang Liwei had several tasks to complete during the flight and only slept in the spaceship for about 3 hours. While he was sleeping ,the spaceship circled the earth twice.