"This is Unity shuttle, received please reply, This is Unity shuttle, received please reply..."
Since the six astronauts hailed from four different countries, English was the only language they could use for communication.
Fortunately, as astronauts, everyone's English was up to par, with only Lin Ju on the ground needing translation assistance to understand. He had sworn at the launch center that one day, when the time comes to go into space, one must know how to speak Chinese.
As Li Sheng started to call, inside the return capsule of TMA-17M, Oleg had already been waiting for the radio signal, and he heard Li Sheng's first call.
The thought that Unity might be just a few thousand kilometers behind him made Oleg's heart surge with excitement.
Onboard Unity, all three heard a deep Russian voice: "Davarish! KI ta Davarish!"
That was followed by a Chinese greeting and English with a thick accent: "Hello! it's Soyuz TMA-17M!"
