JIUQUAN - As China prepares for Thursday's launch of the Shenzhou XVIII spaceflight mission, Li Guangsu, a member of the crew, stands ready for his maiden journey into space.

Li and his two teammates will spend about six months working in the country's Tiangong space station.

Born in 1987 in a small village in east China's Jiangsu Province, Li's fascination with space began in childhood when he heard the roar of a helicopter passing overhead one day.

After graduating from high school, he enrolled in the Aviation University of the Air Force, where he grew into a fighter pilot.

In 2020, Li was recruited in the third batch of Chinese astronauts.

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As a liberal arts major, tackling science and engineering courses in training was a formidable challenge for Li. However, he dedicated himself to his studies, often burning the midnight oil.

Li said that he maintained strict discipline and high standards for himself in every academic and training endeavor.

He dedicated extensive time to practice, reviewing and analyzing training results in meticulous detail, and achieved a perfect score in manual rendezvous and docking training.

He also excelled in psychological adaptability training, which involved staying in a closed room for three days and three nights without sleep.

Following rigorous training, Li successfully passed all tests and was chosen as a crew member for the Shenzhou XVIII mission.

Addressing reporters at a press conference on Wednesday, Li said his major jobs during the Shenzhou XVIII mission will be carrying out space experiments and tests in cutting-edge fields such as aerospace medicine, basic physics, material science and life science.

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"I am looking forward to the experience of traveling at 7.9 kilometers per second, the unique sensation of weightlessness and the remarkable feeling of soaring through space without wings," Li said.