Wang Yaping, together with Zhai Zhigang and Ye Guangfu, went into space aboard the Shenzhou XIII on October 16th, 2021. Wang became the first female astronaut (女航天员) to enter Tiangong space station.

Wang’s space dream started in 2003, when China sent its first astronaut Yang Liwei into space. At that time, Wang was a pilot in the Chinese army. After having safe flights for 1,600 hours over nine years, Wang was a strong candidate to become an astronaut in 2010. She pushed herself hard, getting the same training as men. “The space environment won’t change because you are a woman,” she told Xinhua.

The hardest part is the high-G training. Sitting in a spinning (旋转的) machine, Wang would become blind for a while because her brain was short of blood. “There’s a red button (按钮),” said Wang. “If you can’t bear it, you can press it to stop.” But Wang never used it. “There is no such red button in my heart.” That strong spirit finally made her dream come true in 2013. She joined the team for the Shenzhou X mission.

Wang said that as astronauts, women have their own advantages. “Women may be more patient and can better deal with loneliness. Women’s hearts are also easier to adapt (适应) to the weightless environment, making them more suitable for long-term missions.”

Wang Yaping went a long way before becoming the first woman to enter the Tiangong space station. She sets a good example for all women who dream of going to space.

A Bright Idea

Evans Wadongo was from a village of Africa. He had to do homework by the light of a kerosene lamp (煤油灯). Evans’ eyes hurt and this made studying difficult. It was common in his village. Many children left school for this reason... So they remained poor for the rest of their lives.

Although studying was difficult, Evans was an excellent student and went to a university. He continued to worry about the kerosene lamp. By this time, he realized it was not just bad for schoolchildren but for the whole family. First, it can cause illnesses such as coughs. Also, the light can hurt people’s eyes. Besides, it can lead to fires. Lastly, kerosene is expensive, so families have less money for food. It was difficult to come up with a different kind of lamp that was cheap and good for the environment. Yet Evans did not give up.

One day, he had an idea. He could use a small solar (太阳能的) light. Sunlight is free and solar power is good for the environment. Evans built his first solar lamp, and it worked. He began to build more lamps and sent them to local families. An organization heard about this and provided money for him to build more solar lamps.

Each lamp only cost $20. However, this was a lot of money to many villagers, who only earned around $34 a week, so Evans made sure he kept the cost down. First, Evans used recycled materials. Next, volunteers built the lamps. Finally, people from many countries gave away money to his team, so the lamps were usually free.

Thousands of people had safe light. Julia, a mother of three, said, “Thanks to Evans, my children have light to read, and I have my own light to cook.” The solar lamps made a big difference.

World famous physicist Stephen Hawking died peacefully at his home in Cambridge on March 14th, 2018.

Hawking was born in Oxford. England on 8th January, 1942. He went to school in a small City near London. As he himself admitted. He wasn’t very serious about studying. He did very little work, and he was never top of his class. However, he still achieved good marks. After leaving school, Hawking first went to Oxford University to study Cosmology(宇宙学).

At the age of 21, Hawking noticed something wrong with him. He had a bad illness that stopped him from moving and talking. He couldn’t communicate except by blinking(眨眼). He sat on a wheelchair with a computer by his side. To communicate with others, he moved two fingers to control the computer’s mouse. He chose his words from the screen, which were then spoken by a voice synthesizer(音响合成器). “I’ve had the disease for most of my life,” Hawking once said, “Yet it has not stopped me from being successful at my work.”

Although Hawking was a disabled man, he made great achievements. He received many awards and prizes for his work, including the Albert Einstein Award—the highest achievement in physics.

Hawking worked at Cambridge University as a professor. His story shows that nobody, however bad their situation is, should lose hope. “Life is not fair,” he once said. “You just have to do the best you can in your own situation.”