Aboard China's second manned spacecraft, Shenzhou VI, there is a precious gift from Beijing's school students - 10 letters.

The signatures of the Shenzhou VI mission's candidate astronauts. 

The letters will accompany the two astronauts on their flight through space.

In July, Beijing launched an activity entitled "I write a letter to our astronauts" amongst the city's school children. More than 40,000 children took part. The organizer chose 10 letters and delivered them to the candidate astronauts for the Shenzhou VI mission.

In their letters, the pupils expressed their regards to the astronauts and their love for astronautical activities.

What made the students excited was that 14 of the candidate astronauts replied, thanking them for their passion.

(CRI October 12, 2005)