TOKYO, Dec. 17 (ChinaMil) -- Major General Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut in space and deputy director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, held a dialogue with Mamoru Mohri, Japan's first astronaut and Chief Executive Director of the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation of Japan in Tokyo, Japan on December 14.

The dialogue on space exploration was held at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo on December 14. It was open to approximately 200 registered audiences and all the advance tickets were snapped up.

The two nations’ first astronauts shared their experiences in space, answered questions and discussed the meaning of space exploration with the public at the dialogue. They introduced the current status of the aerospace industry in their respective countries and expressed their views on the possibility of future cooperation between the two countries in the aerospace field.

When answering the question on why China's aerospace strength grew so rapidly, Yang Liwei said that thanks to China's economic and technological progress, as well as the world's demand for aerospace development, China's aerospace industry has made great progress over the past 60 years.

Yang also mentioned that although this is his first visit to Japan, many Japanese astronauts are his old friends. Japan is advanced in aerospace field, and it has world-class infrastructure, transportation capacity and spacecraft construction. In the future, space cooperation between China and Japan is possible at different stages and under different needs, which requires the joint efforts of both sides, said Yang.

Mr. Mamoru introduced that Japan's approach to space exploration at present is based on multilateral international cooperation. He said he was very looking forward to understanding the universe seen by astronauts cultivated by Chinese culture.

When talking about their own space experience, the two first astronauts mentioned that when they looked at the earth in space, the earth has no national borders, and thus they can feel the greatness of the earth and the insignificance of humankind.

Mr. Mamoru said "challenge the unknown, challenge the limits" in Chinese as a concluding remark in a warm and harmonious atmosphere at the scene. The pair called on humans to work together to explore the universe.