On June 17, 2021, the Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft was successfully launched, successfully sending three astronauts, Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo, into space. Among them, 57-year-old Nie Haisheng served as the commander of the crew of the manned spacecraft, becoming the first Chinese astronaut to enter space as a general.
From the son of a farmer to the "aerospace hero" of the three upper firmament, Nie Haisheng's experience can be called a heroic history, but he always said: behind his success, he cannot do without the warmth and strength brought to him by the virtuous and strong wife at home.
One
In 1964, Nie Haisheng was born in Nie Zhuang, Fanzhuang Village, Yangqi Town, Zaoyang City, Hubei Province. The Nie family has 8 children, and Nie Haisheng ranks sixth.
Due to the early death of his father and the many brothers and sisters, the life of the Nie family was very difficult. Nie Haisheng always remembers how his mother often moved to neighbors to collect money for her school fees.
The pressure of life has shaped Nie Haisheng's hard-working, down-to-earth and steady character. Since he was a child, Nie Haisheng has studied very hard and has excellent grades, especially in mathematics and sports, and is always far ahead.
After graduating from junior high school, Nie Haisheng was admitted to Zaoyang No. 1 Middle School with the second place in the city, which caused a lot of sensation in the village. In order to make up the tuition fees for high school, Nie Haisheng spent the summer vacation moving wood and loading tea, and earned the tuition fees with his own hands.
In 1983, a certain department of the Air Force came to Zaoyang No. 1 Middle School to recruit pilots, and after strict screening, a total of 4 people in the school were selected, and Nie Haisheng was one of them.
Nie Haisheng said to his mother excitedly: "Since I was a child, I have dreamed of flying into the sky, and now my dream has finally come true. After I became a pilot in the army, my living expenses were all borne by the state, so that I could reduce the burden on my family! ”
After entering Changchun Aviation School, Nie Haisheng worked hard to learn professional knowledge and practical operation, often holding the model in his hand and pondering it repeatedly, and he had to carefully ponder every flight action until he fully mastered it.
In 1987, Nie Haisheng graduated with honors and was assigned to a flight unit in Nanchang to become an excellent pilot. Due to his excellent performance, after a few years, Nie Haisheng gradually grew from an ordinary pilot to a capable deputy flight group leader.
Two
In 1989, through the introduction of the political commissar of the flight brigade, 23-year-old Nie Jielin and 25-year-old Nie Haisheng met.
Nie Jielin, a native of Nanchang, Jiangxi, is two years younger than Nie Haisheng and a nurse at a military hospital in Nanchang. Her family is very superior, she grew up in the favor of her parents since she was a child, and she can be said to be a girl with golden branches and jade leaves.
At that time, the political commissar of Nie Haisheng's flight brigade was hospitalized due to illness, and Nie Jielin was just assigned to nursing the political commissar. The political commissar felt that this girl was good, so he wanted to introduce her to Nie Haisheng.
Speaking of the scene of the first meeting, Nie Jielin said with a smile: "We can also be regarded as love at first sight." At that time, the first meeting place between the two was in the political commissar's ward, and when Nie Jielin came in, Nie Haisheng was peeling apples with a stuffy head, and after cutting them, he handed it to Nie Jielin with a red face: "It's not well cut, but it doesn't affect eating." ”
Nie Jielin's first impression of Nie Haisheng was that this man was simple and reliable, so she agreed to associate with him. According to Nie Haisheng's later recollection, the first time he saw Nie Jielin, he felt that her eyes were clear, quiet and elegant, and her temperament was good, and he felt that she was the lover of his dreams.
After the two met several times, Nie Haisheng plucked up the courage to say to Nie Jielin: "Don't you think we have a good relationship?" We all have the surname Nie, and in the future, the child can take the father's surname or the mother's surname. Also, your name has a 'quick word, which means good news, quick sound, and there is a 'victory' character in my name, which means victory and victory, and when combined it is the return of victory, a natural pair! ”
Soon, the two reached the point of talking about marriage. At this time, a colleague advised Nie Jielin to consider carefully, saying that finding a pilot would cause her to suffer in the future. Nie Jielin smiled and said nothing, and resolutely married Nie Haisheng a year later.
In 1990, the two entered the palace of marriage. Two years later, they had a lovely daughter. Nie Haisheng hoped that his daughter could become a pilot when she grew up, so he named her daughter Nie Tianxiang.
In 1996, Nie Haisheng learned that China was selecting astronauts for the first time for the troops, and wanted to participate in the selection of astronauts. But it was resolutely opposed by Nie Jielin.
The reason for Nie Jielin's objection is very simple, because just a few years ago, she saw the explosion of the American "Challenger" space shuttle on TV, and several astronauts were all killed, so she thought that aerospace is an extremely dangerous job, how could she be willing to risk her husband?
In this way, the two had their first major disagreement since their marriage.
Nie Haisheng is a very stubborn person, and seeing his wife objecting on this ground, he felt incomprehensible, and even quarreled with his wife because of this.
In the following days, the two continued to be in a cold war state, and Nie Haisheng decided to "outwit" the problem to solve the problem.
One weekend more than half a month later, Nie Haisheng, who rarely accompanied his wife shopping, spent a full day with his wife in the busy cities and streets of Beijing, and then invited his wife to eat at a high-end restaurant in the evening.
Seeing his wife's happy look, Nie Haisheng took the opportunity to say: "Being an astronaut is my dream." Besides, if you agree with me going, I may not be able to choose, may I?"
Seeing that her husband was reasonable, Nie Jielin thought that even if she agreed to let him go, she might not be able to choose, so why do she need to compete with her husband? So he nodded in agreement.
Seeing his wife nodding, Nie Haisheng quickly took out a form from his pocket and handed it to Nie Jielin's hand. Nie Jielin saw that it turned out to be an opinion letter to ask the astronaut's family for consent, and then she knew that she had been fooled and fell into her husband's "trap"!
It turned out that in this half month, Nie Haisheng concealed his wife and secretly went to participate in the selection. In the end, with his good physique and excellent flight ability, as well as 1480 hours of flight experience in flying safely in the J-5, J-6 and J-7, he won among the 1506 pilots and became one of the 14 astronauts.
Seeing that she had won the plan, Nie Jielin said coquettishly: "Hey, why are you so cunning?" Nie Haisheng smiled: "Thank you Madame for your support." ”
Three
In 1998, Nie Haisheng brought his wife and daughter to Beijing Aerospace City and began his career as an astronaut. What Nie Jielin did not expect was that although they were both in the space city, the couple began a life of "separation between the two places" from then on.
After becoming an astronaut, Nie Haisheng faced a very heavy learning task, with 58 theoretical courses to learn alone, including manned space engineering, computer applications, advanced mathematics, English, electrical electronics, etc., each textbook is a large book of hundreds of pages.
In addition to these basic subjects, there are also severe training that ordinary people can hardly imagine, including weightlessness training, overweight training, hypoxia training, silence training, etc., hundreds of subjects, each of which must pass. This is a great challenge for astronauts both physically and psychologically.
In order to master the theoretical knowledge of aerospace, the 34-year-old Nie Haisheng learned to fly day and night like he was preparing for the college entrance examination. The space city training base is only 500 meters away from the family building, and he rarely goes home once a month, but the couple is close but it is tantamount to separation. Even if he occasionally took time to go home, Nie Haisheng was already exhausted, and he couldn't even move his legs.
At this time, Nie Jielin would use her medical knowledge to massage and physiotherapy her husband, and when her husband fell asleep, she was so tired that she fell apart. In order to let Nie Haisheng grasp aerospace theory faster, she arranged her home as a study room, whether it was the living room or bedroom, and even the walls and wardrobes were plastered with notes full of aerospace theory knowledge.
In order to make Nie Haisheng learn more easily at home, Nie Jielin also often plays the role of "reading machine" and "teleprompter", she is reading while her husband is memorizing. Even his daughter, who was just in junior high school at the time, became an "assistant" for him to study and train.
For an astronaut, Nie Haisheng's weight is slightly overweight, so how to help her husband lose weight has become Nie Jielin's most concerned issue.
She knows that astronauts are physically consumed during training, and they cannot take the diet method to lose weight, only by increasing the amount of exercise. So Nie Jielin became her husband's special "sparring partner", as long as her husband came home, she would accompany her husband to run on the road of Space City early the next morning.
After dinner in the evening, Nie Jielin mobilized her daughter to accompany Nie Haisheng to walk in circles in the square, and did not let him come back for two hours. In terms of diet, she also strictly followed the astronaut's recipes to cook dishes for her husband, and resolutely did not buy high-fat foods.
So much so that the daughter often complained: "As soon as Dad comes home, I won't have anything to eat." With her efforts, Nie Haisheng quickly managed to keep his weight within the standard.
After Nie Jielin was transferred to Beijing with her husband, she was arranged to work in the biology laboratory of the Institute of Aerospace Medical Engineering. On her first day at work, she cried her nose - it turned out that the biology laboratory raised a lot of mice for research, but Nie Jielin was naturally afraid of mice.
Seeing that Nie Jielin was scared and crying, Wu Chuansheng, director of the institute, had to talk to Nie Jielin: "These mice are for experiments, not mice running at home." You work for a while, and if it doesn't work, I'll change your job. "
Like Nie Haisheng, Nie Jielin is also a person who does not admit defeat. She didn't want to trouble the leader and was determined to overcome her fears and do the job well.
With the support of this psychology, Nie Jielin gradually became less afraid of those furry guinea pigs. She started by brushing test tube bottles, to catching mice for experiments, and little by little to add weight to her courage. It didn't take long for her to be fully qualified for the job.
Nie Jielin, who only had a technical secondary school degree before, used her spare time to make up for university courses, and mastered difficult techniques such as myocardial training, and overcame problems in the field of animal experimentation. Her progress has been amazed even by the leadership.
In order to let Nie Haisheng devote himself to training, Nie Jielin also had to take care of his family. Nie Jielin is a filial daughter-in-law, and after marrying Nie Haisheng, she took her mother-in-law to her side and lived for 6 years.
After the family moved to Beijing this time, she took her mother-in-law to Beijing to take care of her, and lived for four or five years. It was not until Nie Haisheng's uncle fell ill and had no one to take care of him later that he agreed to allow his mother-in-law to return to Zaoyang.
After coming to Beijing, perhaps because of the unsatisfactory, his daughter Nie Tianxiang often fell ill. One night it was raining heavily, and Nie Tianxiang had a sudden high fever, and his body temperature rose to nearly 40 °C, accompanied by convulsions from time to time.
Nie Jielin rushed into the hospital with her child in her arms, and when she arrived at the emergency room, her clothes were soaked with rain and sweat. Seeing this, the doctor asked reproachesly: "Why didn't your husband come?" Nie Jielin didn't know how to answer, but Nie Tianxiang solved his mother in confusion: "My father is an astronaut." ”
Hearing her daughter's innocent words, Nie Jielin couldn't help but shed tears. Well, at such a time, Nie Jielinduo hopes that her husband can be by her side! She also has moments of vulnerability, but she can only choose to be strong.
In November 2004, Nie Haisheng's mother was hospitalized due to illness. Nie Jielin immediately took a long vacation from the unit, rushed back to Zaoyang, took care of her mother-in-law step by step, and helped her wipe her body several times a day. Under her careful care, her mother-in-law was soon discharged from the hospital.
Over the years, Nie Jielin is not afraid of the tiredness of family affairs, busy work, and the hardship of "separation", and what worries her the most is Nie Haisheng to perform flight missions.
Astronauts have many training subjects full of risks, and every time they see an ambulance on standby outside the field, their families are very worried... This was a reborn training, and Nie Haisheng's extraordinary willpower and sense of belief allowed Nie Haisheng to persevere, while his wife's warmth and silent dedication became his motivation and backing.
Four
Once, when Nie Jielin went to visit Nie Haisheng, he was just in time for Nie Haisheng to be training. When she saw Nie Haisheng on the display screen that his facial muscles were severely deformed in the high-speed centrifuge, tears couldn't stop falling, and she had to turn her back and couldn't bear to look at it again.
When Nie Haisheng's training was over and he stood intact in front of her, she just hugged Nie Haisheng tightly and couldn't say a word.
On October 11, 2005, the high-level of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Base held a special meeting to determine the candidates for the first flight of the Shenliu. Nie Haisheng and his partner Fei Junlong stood out and became astronauts driving the Shenliu spacecraft!
After learning the news, Nie Jielin said excitedly: "I actually want him to go on!" These days I am looking forward to being selected as much as everyone else, and I am really happy for Haisheng after the results are announced, after all, this is a rare opportunity for a person's life! ”
Shortly after the launch of the "Shenliu" mission, Nie Haisheng's mother suffered a sudden cerebral hemorrhage. In order not to affect her husband's training, Nie Jielin rushed back to her hometown alone and took on the heavy responsibility of taking care of her mother-in-law.
Nie Haisheng's sisters were worried that her critically ill mother had three strengths and two shorts, and wanted to tell Nie Haisheng the news of her mother's illness, but Nie Jielin was firmly opposed because she was afraid of affecting her husband's training. Finally, under her careful care, my mother finally survived and turned the corner.
October 12, 2005, the day China's "Shenliu" flew into space, and it was also Nie Haisheng's 41st birthday. Although one of them is on Earth and the other is in space far from Earth, the hearts of Nie Jielin and Nie Haisheng are closely linked.
On the evening of October 12, Nie Jielin and her daughter were arranged to come to the Beijing Flight Control Center to talk to Nie Haisheng.
Facing her husband who was far away in space, Nie Jielin said affectionately: "Haisheng, I am Jielin. This morning, snowflakes fell at the launch site. I saw you embark on your journey to space with confidence and a smile. As a wife, I feel very relieved, but at the same time a little distressed. Do you feel good at this moment?"
"It feels good, thank you for your concern."
"Everything is fine at home, don't worry. Mom is in good spirits today and is very excited to see the picture of you. ”
"Okay, got it." Nie Haisheng's tone was full of gratitude.
"Haisheng, you know what, in two and a half hours it will be your 41st birthday. Here, I very much want to say to you, good luck sea victory, good luck God six! I'll give you this unusual birthday at home, take care! ”
In order to commemorate this unusual birthday, after talking with her husband, Nie Jielin, who returned home, specially took out the exquisite cake ordered for her husband, lit a birthday candle for her husband in space at home, and took her daughter to make a wish against the flickering candlelight: Haisheng, no matter where you are, you will always be my deepest concern, bless you, and also bless "God Six", and wish you a triumphant return!
During the days when Nie Haisheng was on duty, Nie Jielin turned on the TV at home 24 hours a day, for fear of missing any news related to "Shenzhou 6". On the day the spacecraft returned, when the live TV broadcast came the picture of Nie Haisheng walking out of the return capsule, Nie Jielin's hanging heart was completely put down and cried like a child.
After performing the "Shenzhou 6" mission, Nie Jielin once asked her husband: Will he go to space again in the future? Nie Haisheng replied with a look of fascination: "If I have the opportunity, I want to go again!" Nie Jielin nodded, she understood that this was her husband's lifelong dream.
Five
In April 2013, Nie Haisheng was once again selected as the flight crew of Tiangong-1 and Shenzhou-10 manned missions. Many astronauts only have one chance to fly to space in their lives, but Nie Haisheng got a second chance to fly to the sky with his own strength.
He cherished it doubly and actively participated in training. And Nie Jielin took on the heavy responsibility of taking care of the family, only for her husband to train with peace of mind and be able to fly into space again.
In June 2013, Nie Haisheng served as the commander of the Shenzhou 10 crew, and successfully completed the first applied flight of mainland manned spaceflight with astronauts Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping, and returned home in triumph. Nie Haisheng said that before he set out on the expedition, his wife and daughter accompanied him for a walk, and he always remembered the scene of the family talking and laughing warmly.
After eight years of flying again, Nie Haisheng is very grateful to his wife, because Nie Jielin has been forcing him to undergo physical training every day, so that his body is always in the best condition and can successfully complete the task of flying into the sky.
Because of his wife's wholehearted support for him, in June 2021, when Nie Haisheng was more than half a hundred years old, he was once again selected as the commander and successfully entered space with Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo, becoming the first Chinese astronaut to explore the sky with three probes, and also set a record for space flight time.
For her husband's third flying trip, Nie Jielin was no longer as nervous as the first time, she felt that her husband was like going on a business trip, and only said one sentence before her husband boarded: "There is me at home, you can fly with confidence." ”
After Nie Haisheng flew into space, a reporter asked Nie Jielin, is he really not worried about her husband? Nie Jielin said with a smile: "It's human nature to worry, but I'm not worried. Through the first two successful flights, I am full of confidence in the current level of aerospace science and technology on the mainland, and I have adjusted my mentality, only to be my husband on another errand. ”
At 13:34 on September 17, 2021, when the Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft return module successfully landed at the Dongfeng landing site, Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming, and Tang Hongbo safely and smoothly exited the capsule, Nie Jielin hugged her daughter and laughed happily in front of the TV, laughing and laughing, tears "booming" down...
On November 23, 2021, Nie Haisheng was awarded the "First-class Space Merit Medal" by the CPC Central Committee, the State Council and the Central Military Commission.
As the son of a farmer, when he summed up his legend in space, in addition to thanking the country for its cultivation, the person he was most grateful for was always supporting his wife Nie Jielin. So in an interview with reporters, Nie Haisheng always said: "In my achievements, my wife accounts for more than half of the credit. ”
Hearing her husband's thanks, Nie Jielin smiled: "I can't do anything big, the only thing I can do is to take care of the home so that Nie Haisheng is not distracted." However, he also knows that I am now a 'female man', and he is very relieved to give me the home! ”
Resources
"Hubei Daily": "Space hero Nie Haisheng: Three probes in the firmament, a good wife at home can fly with confidence"
"Reference News": "Three Detectives in the Sky, She is Nie Haisheng's warmest power"
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Author: Li Li
Editor: Monon