April 16, 2022 is a day of extraordinary significance, Shenzhou 13 return capsule triumphant return, the triumphant Shenzhou 13 astronauts appeared again, although they are sitting in chairs to meet everyone, but they look full of energy, clear thinking when interviewed, to use a sentence that astronauts often say: feel good!
Shenzhou 13 landing site also appeared unexpected surprise and very interesting scene, the unexpected surprise is that the return capsule is upright, and it is not scraped down by the parachute, which is really very rare, even experts are saying that this is the first return capsule after the Shenzhou 6 spacecraft, which is the first return capsule to stand upright, and the cutting parachute technology is simply perfect.
An interesting scene is that the Shenzhou return capsule landed on the ground, coupled with a number of helicopters rushed to come, but a group of animals that seemed to be wild camels were frightened nearby, and the landing real-time screen showed that the animals first watched quietly, and then found that the situation was not right, pulled out their legs and ran, and quickly left the landing site.
3 Shenzhou 13 astronauts have returned victoriously! So the Chinese space station has no astronauts to stay, can it fly automatically? Of course, there are two ways to control the flight control of the Sky and Core Module of the Chinese Space Station, one is automatic control, the other is human control, and the Beijing Flight Control Center controls it through telemetry signals.
Without astronauts stationed, the Chinese space station will complete a space mission alone, transferring the Tianzhou 3 cargo spacecraft on the backward interface of the Tianhe core module to the forward interface of the small column section of the Tianhe core module, and this task will be completed by the staff of the Beijing Flight Control Center through telemetry signal control.
One might ask, why bother? This is because of the triumphant return of Shenzhou 13, the launch of the Tianzhou 4 cargo spacecraft has entered a countdown state, and Tianzhou 4 will send daily necessities, operating tools, scientific instruments and space station supplies to the Shenzhou 14 astronauts who are about to go to heaven.
Like the Tianzhou 3 cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou 4 will transport up to 6 tons of supplies at a time, hundreds of kilograms of cooked food and fruits, drinking water, oxygen, clothing, hygiene products, external operating tools and space station fuel.
According to the convention, after the Launch of the Tianzhou 4 cargo spacecraft into orbit, it will dock with the backward interface of the Tianhe core module, the rear part of the Tianhe core cabin belongs to the cargo storage area, the cargo spacecraft is moored on the backward interface, which is very convenient for handling goods, and the front of the Tianhe core cabin is a sleeping area, and there are multiple interfaces in front of it, which is used to park the manned spacecraft and the empty cargo spacecraft after unloading the cargo, which is very reasonable.
The empty cargo spacecraft is moored in the sky and the core module forward interface, is this not a waste of space fuel? For every ton of mass added to the space station, it naturally consumes one point more fuel per month, and the fuel consumption of the space station includes regular orbital lifting, attitude adjustment and emergency obstacle avoidance every month.
In fact, the empty cargo spacecraft is very useful, can be used as the space station's "garbage recycling station", astronauts 6 months of space life, the production of garbage must be a lot, including domestic garbage, solid excrement, waste products can be thrown into the "garbage recycling station", astronauts return before the "garbage recycling station" in the atmosphere to destroy.
Tianzhou 2 cargo spacecraft is the "garbage recycling station" of Shenzhou 13 astronauts, they have been destroyed before returning, and now, Tianzhou 3 will become the "garbage collection station" of Shenzhou 14 astronauts after moving to the forward interface.
The time of the transfer of Tianzhou 2 to the forward interface of the Tianhe core module is on the 2nd day of the triumphant return of Shenzhou 12, and the launch of the Tianzhou 3 cargo spacecraft is on the 4th day of the triumphant return of Shenzhou 12, so the time of the forward interface of the Tianzhou 3 cargo spacecraft is expected to be april 16-17, and the launch time of the Tianzhou 4 cargo spacecraft is expected to be around April 19.
After the successful return of the Shenzhou 13 astronauts, they cannot immediately resume normal life, may not even be difficult to walk, and have to go through 6 months of rehabilitation, because 6 months of space life makes the astronauts muscles atrophy, osteoporosis, and sudden changes in blood pressure and immunity after return.
Shenzhou 14 astronauts are also ready, but will be launched after the successful launch of the Tianzhou 4 cargo spacecraft, China has a saying: soldiers and horses do not move, grain and grass first, from the time point of view, Shenzhou 14 spacecraft is expected to launch in mid-May, the list of astronauts will also be announced 24 hours before launch.
Shenzhou 12 astronauts returned to the ground on September 17, 2021, the calculation time has been 7 months, maybe they have already returned to the team, so will there be Shenzhou 12 astronauts in the list of Shenzhou 14 astronauts who will be launched? It's also very likely, we'll see.
For the Chinese space station, 2022 will be a very busy year, 2 manned spacecraft launches, 2 cargo spacecraft launches, and 2 experimental module launches, now the good drama has just been staged, it is worth watching. Finally, the Chinese space station will soon complete a mission on its own, moving Tianzhou-3 to the forward interface. Interesting scientific exploration content, please pay attention to the only WeChat public account: Interesting Exploration