Since ancient times, Chinese have had countless curiosities and imaginations about the cosmic starry sky, poets try to put their thoughts on the moon, express their emotions to the sky, whether it is agronomists or astrological scholars are trying to find the connection between the sky universe and the real life of people.
The yearning for the universe has existed since ancient times, but it has taken us decades to really move towards this "yearning".
From Shenzhou 1 to Shenzhou 7, the leap is not only an overnight change of time, but also people's curiosity about the universe.
When this dream of "going to the moon for nine days" becomes a reality, there are actually many dangers hidden under the beautiful starry sky.
And many of our aerospace workers are using their lives to help us unravel the mysteries of the universe.
The road to the sky of Shenzhou VII
On September 25, 2008, the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft was successfully launched under the attention of the people of the whole country, and the three astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng became the warriors of this exploration of the universe.
It was also this time that our astronauts successfully overcame many obstacles and took the first step in space, making China the third country in the world to master the technology of space exit.
But looking back on this experience, it was actually full of dangers, and in the face of unknown difficulties, the three astronauts were even ready to sacrifice before departure.
Time back to before the launch of Shenzhou 7, in order to cheer up the astronauts, the center held a grand ceremony for the three astronauts, and everyone at the departure ceremony was full of joy, but their hearts were full of nervousness, because this expedition was extraordinary, and it was the first time that the astronauts of the mainland carried out a space mission.
The importance of this mission is self-evident, especially for the three astronauts, and it is under tremendous pressure. As an astronaut who failed to be selected twice, Zhai Zhigang was both excited and apprehensive.
Zhai Zhigang was selected for two missions, Shenzhou 5 and Shenzhou 7, but he was unsuccessful.
At that time, he also received a lot of attention as the only astronaut among the 14 astronauts who was selected for the flight echelon three times, and this time in the Shenzhou 7 mission, he was not only successfully selected but also became the commander of the astronaut crew, and took over the task of completing the sky walk and completing the operation of space science experiments.
For this mission, Zhai Zhigang trained hard, because he knew better than others that opportunities were not easy to come by. At that time, many Chinese people did not realize the difference between Shenzhou 7 this time, nor did they realize how difficult the spacewalk was. Aerospace technology in the United States and the USSR has always been at the forefront of the world.
Although China's aerospace technology started late, it has developed rapidly, and this spacewalk means that China's aerospace technology has entered a new stage.
As the executors of this mission, the three astronauts not only carry the expectations of the space center technicians, but also the attention of countless Chinese people.
After the departure ceremony, everyone returned to their posts in an orderly manner, and with the command coming one after another, the atmosphere on the scene became more and more tense, and everyone became more and more serious.
At half past eight o'clock in the evening on the day of the launch, the ship-arrow tower assembly appeared, and the onlookers near the launch center could not help but begin to get excited.
As the countdown came, everyone waited with bated breath for the historic moment.
As the countdown ends, the rocket begins to lift off until it pierces the night sky, finally becoming a point of light and disappearing into the sky.
At 9:26 p.m. that night, everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the Yuanwang 5 survey ship captured the spacecraft's information and the images in the cabin appeared on the big screen in the command center.
The expressions of the three astronauts were free, and Zhai Zhigang took the lead in reporting: "Shenzhou 7 feels good", and as the commander-in-chief announced the successful launch, everyone relaxed their tense nerves and began to celebrate.
But the joy was only temporary, and the celebratory atmosphere on the ground did not affect Zhai Zhigang and the other two astronauts, who knew that there was a daunting task waiting for them.
After successfully entering orbit, Zhai Zhigang began training.
Two hours after liftoff, Zhai Zhigang entered the orbital module.
Countdown to exit
On the 26th, he and Liu Boming began to unseal, assemble, and test the extravehicular spacesuit, and conducted training, and trained until the early morning of the 27th.
The day before the out-of-cabin activities, Zhai Zhigang and Liu Boming's first training was to assemble and test the spacesuits, and we prepared two kinds of spacesuits, one was the mainland-designed "Feitian" extravehicular spacesuit, and the other was the Russian "Sea Hawk" extravehicular spacesuit.
The most important role of this extravehicular spacesuit is to ensure the life, health and safety of astronauts, and its design and manufacture are not only designed to the cutting-edge technology in the industry, but also the embodiment of a country's aerospace strength.
For example, in 1965, Russian cosmonaut Alexei was almost in danger because of a spacesuit problem and could not return to the capsule.
In order to carry out this mission, the "Feitian" spacesuit worn by Zhai Zhigang has undergone a lot of improvements and upgrades, which is not only safer, but also supports extravehicular activities for a longer time, but because this is the first time to perform a mission, it is also the first time that the "Feitian" spacesuit has appeared in space.
In order to ensure that nothing goes wrong, the ground command center has also prepared another new spacesuit, and on the day of leaving the capsule, it has also made various preparations to deal with unexpected accidents.
If there are various problems in the spacesuit during the mission, various technical means can be used to repair and troubleshoot in time.
So when Zhai Zhigang and Liu Boming began to assemble the spacesuits, the staff on the ground were also paying close attention.
At that time, two people were operating one and the other was reading the operation manual to confirm, and the whole assembly process lasted for more than ten hours.
After finally putting on the spacesuit, the two astronauts tested the size adjustment and airtightness of the suit, and finally everything was normal.
After testing the spacesuits, the two astronauts wore spacesuits to conduct mobile training and equipment simulation operation training in the orbital module, and trained both in-orbit preparation and extravehicular activities, trying to find possible accidents through rehearsals. They trained like this until the early morning of the 27th.
The time came, and at 10 o'clock in the morning of the 27th, the flight control center confirmed that all indicators of the three people were normal after conducting a medical examination of the astronauts.
It also confirmed that Zhai Zhigang carried out the first mission of a Chinese astronaut.
The space that has attracted the reverie of countless Chinese people is right in front of us, and as Chinese, we have to come into contact with the mysterious and fantastic space world for the first time, and many Chinese people are in a strong mood.
But Zhai Zhigang, as the executor of this mission, was very nervous.
At noon, the astronauts began to make various preparations before the capsule, first of all, all the items in the orbital module that could not tolerate low pressure were transferred to the return capsule, and after packing the items, they began to wear the spacesuit and test the spacesuit again.
After the test is completed, the astronauts and countless Chinese people are only separated from the "distance" from space.
To commemorate the first time Chinese astronauts went out of the capsule, cameras were also set up outside the cabin, and the footage could be transmitted to the control center. This put a lot of psychological pressure on the three astronauts.
Although the astronauts and ground crews had been prepared and trained in all aspects before, when the moment really came, there were some small surprises.
There are many surprises in the mission
When the official mission, the two astronauts first opened the pressure relief valve of the orbital module, and started the spacesuit pressurization system, and began to inhale oxygen and nitrogen.
But I didn't expect there to be a problem in this link, when Zhai Zhigang was about to perform the task, according to the picture fed back by the camera, Zhai Zhigang had fixed the safety hook on the armrest, and he was trying to get close to the hatch while holding the handrail.
When he locked the hatch and pulled the cap open, and then turned the wrench hard, after a few times, the hatch seemed to be opened as smoothly as expected.
The staff on the ground also became nervous, and heard Zhai Zhigang's wheezing sound as he turned the wrench hard.
With Zhai Zhigang's many efforts, the hatch finally moved, revealing a crack.
But I didn't expect the hatch to close again soon, and at this time, Zhai Zhigang reported to the ground that "there was a force that sucked outward", which seemed to be preventing the hatch from opening. So the ground instructed Zhai Zhigang to try again.
At this time, everyone's hearts are hanging in their throats, and they won't fail the task by opening the hatch.
With Zhai Zhigang's efforts, the hatch was finally opened to a predetermined angle, and the blue light came from the mysterious and dreamy universe, the beautiful space was close in front of him, and the blue earth was in the distance.
Seeing this picture, the staff on the ground finally couldn't help but shed tears, how many years of hard work have been for this picture.
Now only Zhai Zhigang walked out of the hatch, and the Chinese astronauts achieved zero distance from space.
After the command was transmitted on the ground, Zhai Zhigang immediately replied, on the screen, Zhai Zhigang's helmet appeared first, and then Zhai Zhigang stretched out his right hand, buckled the safety hook on the armrest of the cabin, and when his upper body fully leaned out of the spaceship, he waved to the camera.
When Zhai Zhigang's "Shenzhou 7 report, I was out of the cabin and felt good. Shenzhou 7 greets the people of the whole country and the people of the world!" After the words were spoken, the people on the ground boiled, as the first astronaut on the mainland to carry out the mission out of the cabin, Zhai Zhigang not only completed the dream of the Chinese for thousands of years, but also symbolized that China's space world has entered a new era.
When Zhai Zhigang was about to remove the second hook and hang it on the armrest.
There was an accident when the gauge showed that the orbital module was on fire, and the alarm came quickly.
But Zhai Zhigang, who was on the mission, was still very calm, he turned around, his whole body slid out of the orbital module, and his hands and feet also left the cabin, almost inverted with the cabin.
At this time, the "fire" prompt appeared again, and people found that the TV picture had become a mosaic, and everyone was worried about the astronauts.
After a while, the picture changed to the scene of the ground command center, the staff were busy with their own things, everything was in order, but for the time being, I didn't see Zhai Zhigang's exit from the cabin.
In fact, when the accident happened, the three astronauts were the most nervous, although before the expedition, they had foreseen the possible danger and were mentally prepared, but when the accident really came, in addition to being nervous, they also considered the safety of their "comrades-in-arms".
At that time, after analyzing it, they decided to continue to complete the mission first, and even if they had to sacrifice today, they would ensure the successful completion of the mission out of the cabin.
And at that time, Liu Boming also said to Jing Haipeng, who was supporting in the capsule, that if the orbital module really caught fire, then the orbital module could be separated, so that at least one person could successfully return to Earth.
After Zhai Zhigang, who was outside the cabin, heard the alarm reminder, he also made all kinds of psychological preparations, no matter whether there was a fire or not, he had to resolutely complete this task.
The moment he and Liu Boming looked at each other, they understood what the other party wanted to say, as an astronaut, every expedition has dangers and the possibility of sacrifice, and they have long been prepared.
Fortunately, it was confirmed that this was only a false alarm, and the reason was that a smoke detector failed in a vacuum environment, so the accident occurred, which was shown to be a fire.
In fact, the staff and several astronauts on the ground at that time were very puzzled, in a vacuum environment, because there was no oxygen, it was impossible for the orbital module to have a fire.
But they never expected that it would be such a reason that caused the accident, and the commander-in-chief Shang Zhi also said, "We have a lot of new understanding of the out-of-cabin activities, no matter how close the ground simulation is, after all, it can't be exactly the same as space." ”
When the danger was eliminated, the figure of the two astronauts reappeared, at this time Zhai Zhigang was floating in space, he grabbed the handrail with his left hand, and took over a five-star red flag handed over by Liu Boming with his right hand, waving it in space, and the Chinese dream left footprints in space.
epilogue
What is unusual about this national flag is that "it was embroidered by one needle per person from hundreds of scientific and technological personnel in major systems." "This is the result of years of hard work by all the staff, and China has been walking for 16 years when Zhai Zhigang went into space.
Russian cosmonaut Valery once said: "Carrying out a spacewalk is a sign that a country has become a space power, and the speed of development of China's space industry has surprised the whole world." ”
From 2008 to 2023, we have gone through another fifteen years, we have successfully built the Chinese space station in space and successfully launched Shenzhou-17.
The sky that was once so dreamy and boundless in the poetry of writers is no longer far away from us, and behind the realization of the dream of flying is the improvement of national strength, the support of thousands of Chinese and the efforts of countless scientific research workers.
Looking at the sky, in the future, we will also realize more possibilities.