Astronaut Wang Yaping fulfills her lawmaker duties from space

Photo provided by the Astronaut Center of China shows Chinese female taikonaut Wang Yaping in the space station core module Tianhe. (Photo; Xinhua)

"I am looking forward to the upcoming two sessions, and I'm eager to hear suggestions on how to better use the space station," said Wang Yaping from space, who is a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature and a crew member of the ongoing Shenzhou-13 spaceflight mission at the Tiangong space station.

Wang, the first Chinese "space lecturer", who is widely known for her dedication to space science education, said although she had to ask for leave from attending the two sessions in-person due to her space trip, she would continue to devote herself to the work in her position, and carry out research and study in fields including space education and fulfill her duty as an NPC deputy, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Thursday.

Wang became the first spacewalking Chinese female astronaut, while she also holds the record for the longest stay in orbit by any Chinese astronaut during the record six-month Shenzhou-13 mission.

Now the crew are five months into the mission, and they have successfully conducted two spacewalks and delivered the first session of the remote Tiangong class in December 2021, as well as a space-ground connection with students from prestigious universities in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao on the first day of 2022.

Wang beamed down the country's first space lecture live from space to more than 60 million middle school and primary school students across China when she was aboard the nation's Tiangong-1 space lab module.

Dubbed the "space lecturer," she is always thinking about how to make courses and experiments more interesting and inspiring.

Wang called for making full use of the rich resources for science popularization via the space station Tiangong class, to inspire the scientific spirit and love for the cause of aerospace among the general public, especially the young, and better use the space station's role in the domain of space education.

According to CCTV, besides living and working in the Tiangong space station, the crew is busy preparing for another Tiangong class session.