The Central Military Commission of the PRC recently issue an order to confer the title of "Heroic Astronauts Team" to the astronaut team of the Aerospace Medical Engineering Research Institute of the General Armaments Department of the PLA.

　　The order, signed by Jiang Zemin, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, stated that, since its establishment in January, 1998, the astronaut team, fearing neither hardship nor danger and going all out in an indomitable spirit, successfully accomplished the first manned spaceflight mission. All astronauts trained hard and went all out to tackle key problems and accomplished more than 30 courses and 58 subjects of 8 different categories in their study and training; they dared to challenge the limits and outdo themselves by persisting in anti-G endurance and oxygen deficiency training. They trained hard to build up their survival ability in an environment unbearable for ordinary people. Thanks to their hard training, the comprehensive quality of all astronauts of the team reached the requirements of manned spaceflight mission. They stuck to scientific and innovative training methods and carried out training under high-intensity and ultralimit conditions to ensure the smooth fulfilment of the spaceflight training. The team was awarded the Outstanding Unit in Grassroots Construction and Outstanding Unit in Administration for 4 consecutive years. On October 15, 2003, Yang Liwei, astronaut of the team traveled to the outer space in the "Shenzhou" V manned spacecraft and realized China's millennial dream of flying to space.

　　The order pointed out that the astronaut team was a heroic collective which had played an exemplary role in implementing the important thought of the "Three Represents" , fostering the patriotic spirit and daring to scale the summit of science and technology. The whole army and the Armed Police Force should learn from the astronauts their putting the interests of the motherland and people above everything else, their lofty spirit of self sacrifice and their contribution to China's spaceflight cause, and their indomitable spirit to outdo themselves. Officers and men of the armed forces should, under the leadership of the Central Committee of the CPC and the Central Military Commission, uphold Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of the "Three Represents", develop the spirit of "A-bomb, H-bomb and artificial satellite" and manned spaceflight, implement the general requirements of being qualified politically and competent militarily and having a fine style of work, strict discipline and adequate logistical support with high standard and boost military changes with Chinese characteristics and strive for leapfrog development of our army's modernization.

　　（November 10, PLA Daily）