over 50 days have passed since chinese astronauts, or taikonauts, nie haisheng, liu boming and tang hongbo, entered the tianhe core module of china's space station on june 17.
during this period, the tokyo 2020 olympic games was in full swing, drawing the attention of viewers both on earth and in space.
just like the rest of us back on earth, the three taikonauts also watched the games during their mission in space.
technically, the trio can watch the games live from the space station with satellites to relay tv signals in real time. but with busy work schedules, they catch up on the competitions more by video playback during breaks, said china manned space.
they have watched games including table tennis and diving, which were recorded by the ground control center and uploaded to the core module.
on saturday, the taikonauts recorded messages to chinese athletes and the chinese people, expressing their greetings and feelings.
"although we have a busy life in space, we also watch the olympics on tv during our daily breaks, which adds a lot of fun to our life in space," said tang.
liu said the olympic games are very exciting and that he felt proud of his fellow compatriot's achievements and perseverance.
"chinese athletes have challenged themselves, achieved excellent results and set many new records. the sense of pride and honor of the chinese people have been boosted," said liu. "we are really happy for them."
nie mentioned the new olympic motto faster, higher, stronger – together and said the competition, communication, struggle mixed with laughter and tears is the appeal of the olympics.
"the wonderful performance of the athletes makes us feel deeply that everyone should work hard in their own positions to contribute to a more spectacular life and better themselves," said nie.
chinese astronaut nie haisheng exercises on a treadmill. /china manned space
in addition to watching sports competitions, the taikonauts themselves have to do a lot of daily exercise in space to combat a series of effects brought by weightlessness, usually with the treadmill, bicycle and resistance bands.
