He relates how their work has helped advance nation's endeavors in space

President Xi Jinping has called upon the young people working in China's aerospace sector to courageously pursue innovation and breakthroughs and to contribute more strength to the nation's self-reliance in aerospace science and technology.

Xi made the remarks in a letter replying to a team of young people working on the space station program at China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the flagship of the nation's space industry, on Monday, two days ahead of China's Youth Day, which falls on May 4 each year.

The letter from the team reminded him of an exchange he had with young researchers during a trip to the corporation nine years ago, said Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

He noted that China's aerospace sector has kept making history over the past nine years, citing the nation's Tiangong-series experimental capsules, Beidou Navigation Satellite System, Chang'e lunar missions, Tianhe space station core module, Tianwen 1 Mars probe and Xihe solar exploration satellite.