Zhang Fulin (1950-) is a native of Costa Rica and a native of Qianfeng Village, Shiqiyuan, Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province. 65438-0977 Zhang Fulin graduated from MIT and went to the United States after graduating from high school. 1980 was selected as an astronaut by NASA. 1986 65438+1October 12 The space shuttle Columbia went into space for the first time and conducted a five-day scientific experiment. He is the first Chinese professional astronaut of NASA. Zhang Fulin moved to Venezuela with his family when he was very young. At the age of eight, that is, 1957, the launch of the first artificial satellite changed his life. Mother told Zhang Fulin that there was a new star in the sky, which was made by us. One day, mankind will be able to build a spaceship and sit in it to explore the secrets of the sky. The mysterious space fascinated Zhang Fulin and made him determined to become a space explorer.

1977, Zhang Fulin graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a doctorate in applied plasma physics and fusion technology. Obtained American citizenship in the same year. However, the most important thing for Zhang Fulin is that after years of silence, NASA announced that it would recruit new astronauts for the space shuttle program. Zhang Fulin said that all this came so suddenly that space flight was so close that it seemed within reach. Zhang Fulin immediately participated in the astronaut selection, but was not accepted. Two years later, when NASA recruited astronauts for the second time, Zhang Fulin got the green light all the way.

Zhang Fulin is one of the few lucky China people who went into space. 1980, he participated in the selection of astronauts recruited by NASA, and stood out from more than 4,000 applicants. In August 198 1, he became the first professional astronaut in China of NASA. Since then, he has gone into space seven times and accomplished various tasks brilliantly. Today, he has spent more than 1300 hours in space, becoming the China astronaut who has been in space the most times, and has been in space for seven times, which is rare even for American astronauts.