The Construction of the Chinese Space Station will be completely completed in 2022! On April 29, 2021, the Long March 5B Yao-2 carrier rocket carrying the space station Tianhe core module was successfully launched at the Wenchang Cosmodrome in Hainan, which means the arrival of the Chinese space station.
April 29 is the first anniversary of the launch of the Tianhe core module into orbit, and the China Manned Space Engineering Office also completed the review meeting of the "Evaluation Report on the Key Technology Verification Stage of the Space Station Mission" on this day, which means that the key technology verification phase of the Chinese space station is perfectly completed, the engineering systems are also prepared, and the Chinese space station mission will be fully transferred to the construction stage.
Verification of key technologies of the Chinese space station
The development of China's manned spaceflight can only be said to be "steady and steady", And China's key technology verification stage has completed a total of 6 launch missions, including the first flight of the Long March 5B rocket completed on May 5, 2020, carrying a new generation of manned spacecraft test ship and flexible inflatable cargo return module test module, and the mission was a complete success.
The second is the launch of the Tianhe core module into orbit on April 29, 2021, the construction of the space station is like building blocks, and this Tianhe core module is the core of the entire building block. The follow-up is the launch of the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft, the launch of the Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft, the launch of the Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft and the launch of the Shenzhou XIII manned spacecraft.
On April 16, the Shenzhou 13 manned spacecraft returned to the earth, three astronauts flew home safely in space for six months, and after the Shenzhou 13 returned to the earth, the space station assembly was only left with the configuration of "one cabin and one ship", the ship is the Tianzhou 3 cargo spacecraft, which has completed the transposition docking in space, flying from the backward to the forward interface.
After completing a series of experimental tasks, Tianzhou-2 carried out its last mission, that is, to evacuate the space station with garbage waste, and finally destroyed it in the re-entry atmosphere over the South Pacific. Some of the remaining wreckage has landed at Nemo Point, the furthest point on Earth from the continent.
The return of Shenzhou 13 also announces the successful conclusion of the key technology verification phase of the Chinese space station, whether it is the technology of space station construction or the life-sustaining system system for astronauts flying in orbit for a long time, everything is ready.
The Chinese space station is in full swing under construction
With the success of the Shenzhou XIII manned spacecraft mission, the six launch missions in the key technology verification phase of China have all been completed, and then the Chinese space station will fully enter the construction stage, and there will be six launch missions in 2022, when the construction task of the space station will be completely completed.
According to the plan, the launch mission of the Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft will be carried out in May, and the corresponding life experiment materials will be sent to the subsequent crew of the manned spacecraft astronauts, and the Tianzhou-4 will be docked to the backward docking interface of the Tianhe core module after the launch of the Tianzhou-4 into orbit, which is the position given up by the previous Tianzhou-3.
In June, the Shenzhou 14 manned spacecraft will be launched, the current astronaut crew has been determined, is methodically training, Shenzhou 14 astronaut crew will also be space flight for 6 months, the task is relatively heavy.
In July, the "Qingtian" experimental module will be launched into the air, before which Tianzhou-3 must perform evacuation actions to give up the forward pair interface, and the "Qingtian" experimental module will be docked to the forward pair interface for a period of time, and then perform the transposition rendezvous docking experiment, which requires the assistance of a mechanical arm in this process. In October, the "Dream Day" experimental module will be launched, and the operation is the same as that of the "Ask The Sky" experimental module, first docking to the forward pairing interface, and then transposing to the horizontal horizontal docking interface.
The last two launches will be the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft and the Shenzhou 15 manned spacecraft in late 2022, when the Chinese space station will be a standard T-shaped structure.
Bad reviews, NASA director: China's aerospace is not transparent, but also does not take the initiative
At present, a total of 9 projects from 17 countries and 23 entities have passed the audit to enter the first batch of experimental projects, which means that in the future, after the Chinese space station officially enters the operation stage, there will be foreign astronauts entering the Chinese space station. But this doesn't include the United States!
The follow-up manned moon landing and manned fire projects in the United States require the microgravity environment of the International Space Station to be tested, but the international space station is facing a situation of decommissioning, and they cannot participate in the Chinese space station project, which makes them a little embarrassed.
On April 26, NASA Director Bill Nelson accused China of its initiative in spaceflight at a press conference, which basically means that they have a cooperative posture, but China has not taken the initiative to seek cooperation, which is typical of American self-righteousness. It should be known that 17 countries have participated in the Chinese space station experimental project, including Japan, India and Germany, but not the United States.
The second is opaque, Nielsen believes that China's space "lack of transparency", the Chinese space station launch mission rocket booster landing data, not shared with other countries.
NELSON, NASA's director, who seems to be a bit of a scavenger and amnesiac, did not mention the "Wolf Clause" they introduced in 2011, which restricts any form of cooperation between NASA and China in spaceflight, while at a hearing in June 2021, Nelson emphasized strong support for the "Wolf Clause" and supported the permanent exclusion of China from the International Space Station program.
Now he has made strange remarks that China's aerospace does not take the initiative to seek cooperation with the United States, the key is that we do not have this obligation, that is, the United States itself is against its will to seek cooperation, we will also strictly follow the requirements to review the project, whether it can pass it is still difficult to say, do not open in that whimsical day.
Say at the end
Recently, according to media news, the Russian Federal Space Agency has made a decision on the time to withdraw from the International Space Station project, but the specific time has not yet been announced, and when the specific time comes out, the situation that the United States will face will be more difficult. Still in that whimsical, cooperation with the United States itself is beneficial such as the International Space Station, and other areas are arbitrarily sanctioned, too good to think!
Text/science black hole, image source network intrusion deletion.