After the successful launch of Shenzhou-11 on Oct. 17, the two astronauts aboard the spacecraft, Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong, entered the space lab Tiangong-2 on the morning of Oct. 19 (Beijing time). With the whole country wondering about their lives in space, Jing’s first space diary has been released to slake that curiosity.

Here is an edited version of the diary entry:

This is the first day of work in the combination Shenzhou-11 spacecraft and Tiangong-2 space lab. The time now is 10:05 pm, but our work is not yet finished.

I have heard that people on Earth are quite interested in our life here. Actually, our work schedule is pretty tight, and I need to get some sleep soon. We only ate one meal as both breakfast and lunch because we were very busy with docking and entering. Instant food makes up our breakfasts and lunches, and we consume more snacks but fewer staple foods. We forgot to eat the rice and noodles that we had heated up, so we decided to make up for it at dinner.

This is my third mission to space, and my second time entering Tiangong space lab. Actually, compared to Tiangong-1, Tiangong-2 space lab is more comfortable to live in because it has a better layout and nicer decorations.

As for my family, I believe they must be credited with some of our success, just as I mentioned at the press conference and as I said to Chen Dong today. At this moment, we miss all of you very much. I want to tell my colleagues and comrades that we worked, lived, practiced, trained and pursued our dreams together. You are like my family. I know many of you are on duty now to monitor and support our work. I want to salute all my colleagues!