◎ Science and Technology Daily reporter Dai Xiaopei
"Before the end of this year, the Shenzhou 15 crew will fly to the Chinese space station, and they will meet the Shenzhou 14 crew in space, which will be a very worth looking forward to." On March 4, Zhou Jianping, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chief designer of China's manned space project, said in response to questions from reporters from Science and Technology Daily at the first "member channel" of the Fifth Session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
Video source: CCTV News
In 2021, the mainland manned space project has fully entered the implementation stage of the space station engineering mission, and has successively launched the core module of the space station, 2 manned spacecraft and 2 cargo spacecraft.
On the orbit of about 390 kilometers above our heads, the Tianhe core module has been operating safely and stably for 10 months. The Shenzhou 12 crew and the Shenzhou 13 crew successively carried out the key technology verification mission of the space station.
On September 17, 2021, Shenzhou 12 successfully returned to Earth in a group. "They are currently at the end of the 6-month recovery observation phase and are in good physical condition and will soon be in normal work and training." Zhou Jianping said.
Screenshot of CCTV News
As of now, the Shenzhou 13 crew has been flying in space for 140 days. During this period, Zhou Jianping communicated with them by phone many times. "They are in good working, physical and living condition, completing all the planned flight missions so far, and in more than 40 days they will return to their home planet from the vastness of space, which will also mark the successful conclusion of the key technology verification phase of the Chinese space station." Zhou Jianping said.
"The flight of the two passenger groups has made an outstanding contribution to the verification of the space station's key technologies." Zhou Jianping said that the current analysis of flight results and preliminary assessment show that the various systems of manned space engineering fully meet the requirements of the mission, and the main functional performance indicators exceed the design goals.
Science and Technology Daily reporter Dai Xiaopei asked questions at the scene. Photo by Wang Jianjun
What important tasks will be accomplished in the construction of the space station this year?
Zhou Jianping said that from May this year, the space station project will enter the construction stage.
"During the year, we will launch 2 space station experimental modules, 2 manned spacecraft, 2 cargo ships, and send 6 astronauts to the Chinese space station." During the orbital flight of Shenzhou 14, the Shenzhou 14 crew will welcome the arrival of two experimental modules, complete the construction of the China Tiangong space station with the "Tianhe" core module, the "Qingtian" and the "Dream Tian" experimental module as the basic configuration, and their tasks include state monitoring and control during the rendezvous and docking and transposition of the two modules, and a large number of state settings and conversion work after docking. Zhou Jianping introduced.
"Before the end of this year, the Shenzhou 15 crew will fly to the Chinese space station. They will be in space with Shenzhou 14, which will be a very exciting moment. Zhou Jianping revealed.
At that time, the Chinese space station carrying 6 astronauts will be presented to the world. It is reported that after completion, the Chinese space station consists of 3 modules, 2 manned spacecraft and 1 cargo spacecraft, with a total mass of nearly 100 tons, and is loaded with a large number of advanced experimental devices such as space life and biological sciences, material science, combustion and microgravity fluid science, and basic physics.
"The two crews will fly together in orbit for a week or so, and then the Shenzhou 14 crew will return to the ground." Zhou Jianping said that after that, the main work of the Shenzhou 15 crew will shift to space science and applications, including the installation and commissioning of experimental equipment and scientific experimental work.
"Our space station has a lot of very advanced experimental devices, which is a challenge for astronauts. At present, both crews are training intensively and diligently to prepare for the flight mission. I am sure that they will be able to complete the task successfully! Zhou Jianping said.
Source: Science and Technology Daily
Editor: Zhang Shuang
Review: Julie
Final Judgement: Wang Yu