From the launch on October 16, 2021 to today, the three astronauts of the Shenzhou 13 crew have been stationed at the China Space Station for three months, surpassing the three astronauts of Shenzhou 12, and Wang Yaping is about to break Nie Haisheng's record and become the Longest-on-orbit Chinese astronaut. Every day in space for the travel trio from now on is setting a new record for the length of time that Chinese astronauts have been in orbit, and every day is creating a new history. During the six-month space business trip, they must not only carry out the verification of the key technology of the space station, complete various space science experiments, but also ensure their daily life and exercise; they must take care of the space home and take care of themselves. Now that halfway through the business trip, how are they doing?
Flying around the ground for three months, the Shenzhou 13 astronaut crew will experience sixteen sunrises and starfalls every day, but rarely have time to carefully appreciate this magnificent scenery. For the first half of the business trip, their tasks can be said to be fully arranged.
Shenzhou 13 astronauts are the second and last crew of the key technology verification stage of the Chinese space station, and the results of their planned tasks and the operation and use of various equipment and systems will become the key to whether the subsequent space station can smoothly enter the construction stage.
Yang Hong, chief designer of the space station system of the fifth academy of the Aerospace Science and Technology Group, said: "At the end of this stage, we need to conduct an evaluation of our Tianhe core module in orbit, whether the performance of all aspects is satisfied with the mission requirements of the space station, and the assessment results can meet the requirements before entering the assembly and construction." ”
For the astronauts of Shenzhou XIII, they must constantly launch new challenges to more complex tasks on the basis of the tests that the ShenZHOU XIII astronauts have completed. Flying at high speeds in orbits about 400 kilometers above the ground, each mission is constantly pushing the boundaries of astronaut and space station capabilities. The Hand-operated Remote Operation Rendezvous and Docking Test on January 8 was one of them.
Hand-controlled remote operation rendezvous and docking, that is, when the unmanned aerial vehicle is about to rendezvous and dock with the space station, the spacecraft remotely controlled by the astronauts on the space station completes this action. Man to control the rendezvous and docking of the two spacecraft is an important backup guarantee for automatic rendezvous and docking, which is crucial for the construction and subsequent operation of the space station. As early as the Shenzhou 9 mission, astronaut Liu Wang has successfully controlled the Shenzhou spacecraft and Tiangong-1 for hand-controlled rendezvous and docking. However, this time, the Shenzhou 13 astronauts were on the space station, but what they wanted to control was the oncoming Tianzhou cargo spacecraft.
Luo Wencheng, deputy chief designer of the manned space station system of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group, said: "The hand-controlled rendezvous and docking of the Shenzhou spacecraft is the same as our driving, we sit in our own cab to drive our own cars, and the remote operation docking is to sit in someone else's car and drive our own car to achieve the rendezvous and docking of the two cars." ”
To complete such an action in space 400 kilometers from the ground, it is like 10,000 meters of needle piercing, which not only ensures the smooth transmission of signals between spacecraft, but also requires astronauts to control accurately.
Zhang Qiang, deputy chief designer of the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group, said: "In the process of transmission, the image cannot be broken, it cannot be stuck, which is fatal. So we have to think about it when we design. Another problem is the delay, the time will be delayed, the astronaut controls the handle in the core cabin, and the command must be sent back after the control. ”
In order to feel the difference between the minutes and ensure a successful docking, the astronauts continue to summarize their experience and hone their feel in training over and over again.
Ten years offstage, only one minute on stage. At 7:35 a.m. on the same day, under the precise control of the three astronauts, the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft was accurately docked again at the forward pair interface of the space station assembly through manual remote operation.
Whether it is every major mission or every day of daily work, there are astronauts on the ground working together 24 hours a day with astronauts, who work together with astronauts to create one first after another in order to achieve the goal of building the Chinese space station.
On November 7, 2021, Wang Yaping became China's first female astronaut to go out of the cabin, and the third set of cabin jackets made its debut; on December 9, 2021, the Shenzhou 13 flight crew conducted the first space lesson of the Chinese space station; on December 26, 2021, Zhai Zhigang and Ye Guangfu completed the second exit of the Shenzhou 13 flight crew, the first verification of extravehicular cargo transfer; on January 6, 2022, the space station robotic arm transposition cargo spacecraft test was a complete success. In order to verify the feasibility of the subsequent experimental module transposition, on January 8, 2022, the Shenzhou 13 flight crew completed the first remote operation rendezvous and docking test.
Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China's manned space project, said: "So far, all our work has been implemented very smoothly, the key technologies of construction have been fully verified, and now all the indicators show that the functional performance of our space station meets the requirements, and the indicators have significantly exceeded the design expectations in many aspects, laying a solid foundation for the construction and operation of the space station in the future." ”
In this mission of close cooperation between space and earth, the outgoing activity is one of the most demanding projects for all systems, and it is also the most challenging project for astronauts. The two outgoing activities of the Shenzhou 13 astronauts are based on the departure of the Shenzhou 12 astronauts and accumulate more experience.
After the continental space station enters the construction and operation stage, the astronauts will be a high-frequency action, and such repeated verification is a continuous test of the capabilities and coordination of various systems in the manned space engineering.
Luo Wencheng, deputy chief designer of the manned space station system of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group, said: "Including the support of the platform, the skills of spacesuits and people also need to be verified, and they all need to be completed through the accumulation of times and experience, and subsequent tasks are still necessary." ”
Although it is the accumulation of cabin experience, the task of each cabin is not just a formality. When the Shen Thirteenth Group first left the capsule, astronauts Zhai Zhigang and Wang Yaping completed an important installation of the adapter, which will be related to another key technology in the construction of the Chinese space station - the robotic arm.
In these several outgoing activities, each time an astronaut enjoyed the experience of traveling the world with a mechanical arm, compared with the God Twelve Multipliers, the astronauts of the God Thirteen Multipliers Group enjoyed acceleration services.
Halfway through the space residency, astronauts' familiarity with the Chinese space station is also accelerating. Previously, the God Twelve Multipliers group had completed the initial setup of various systems, and this time the three astronauts were even more handy to operate, especially the use of various mobile devices, which brought great convenience to their work and life.
Zhang Jiapei, director of the Aerospace Products Office of the Navigation Division of the Navigation Division of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group, said: "The communication rate of the space station is higher than that of other spacecraft, 1000 times that of traditional spacecraft, and 10 times that of the International Space Station. ”
Li Wanling, chief designer of the instrumentation and lighting subsystem of the space station system of the fifth academy of the Aerospace Science and Technology Group, said: "The mobile phone brought by the astronauts is actually a very portable information processing terminal. Including images, our display, as well as some alarm status, some heaven and earth call needs, and lighting control can be done on the phone, the frequency of use is higher than the previous multiplier. ”
In the second half of the stay, the astronauts still have a lot of work related to platform care, space experiments, etc., in addition to these work, as long-term residents of the space station, in the next three months, they will face more life challenges.
Hou Yongqing, deputy chief designer of the space station system of the fifth academy of the Aerospace Science and Technology Group, said: "Because the closed environment will produce microorganisms, microorganisms were not a problem before, because the time is short, after a long time, microorganisms are a very important problem, which is a new challenge for us." ”
In the long-term stay in space, astronauts must not only pay attention to the garbage collected at all times, but also clean up frequently, and regularly conduct microbial testing of various daily necessities. Ensuring that the environment is normal can ensure the normal life of astronauts in the space station for the next ten years. Longer residencies, in addition to the tests from the environment, the greater challenges come from the astronauts themselves. They will face the physical and psychological challenges of Chinese long-term presence in space.
Astronaut Wang Yaping said: "The weightless environment will cause the blood distribution to be different from the ground, which will affect our health. ”
Astronaut Zhai Zhigang said: "It will lead to muscle atrophy, bone calcium loss, and a long-term narrow and closed environment that will cause our hearts to feel lonely and irritable." ”
It is reassuring that astronauts check each other's physical indicators every week and month, and medical support and assessment on the ground also escort their health. What's more, no matter how busy they are at work, their fitness workouts never slacken off.
Astronaut Zhai Zhigang said: "We actively carry out physical exercises after work in orbit and take the initiative to carry out self-psychological adjustment. In the follow-up tasks, we may still encounter various problems and difficulties, but we firmly believe that we will be able to let the people of the whole country see that when we return, we still feel good. ”
Shenzhou 13 astronauts have begun the second half of their space journey, continuing to refresh the new record of Chinese astronauts, astronauts will accept new challenges in orbit for a long time, and will also refresh the new record of China's manned spaceflight.
Producer 丨 Li composed poems
Editor-in-chief 丨Liu Ning Yu Xiaoxuan
Editor 丨Lu Yujia
Camera 丨 Ruan Hongyu
Responsible editor 丨 Liu Xiaoping Shi Yao
Clip 丨 Zheng Yu