In the process of carrying out the Shenzhou 17 spacecraft mission, Tang Hongbo and other astronauts set many records and completed many firsts. For example, in previous inspections, we found that the solar wings of the Tianhe core module of the Tiangong space station were damaged by multiple impacts from small space particles.
Although this did not affect the normal operation of China's space station, the Shenzhou-17 astronauts still went out of the capsule to repair it. This is the first time that mainland astronauts have completed the maintenance task of extravehicular facilities, verified the technology of extravehicular maintenance, and mastered relevant technical experience.
Since these spacecraft will inevitably be hit by these small space particles during the low-earth orbit flight, after all, the number of these space particles is very large, so it may be a normal task for astronauts to carry out such out-of-cabin activities and repair extravehicular facilities in the future.
This is the case with spacecraft such as the International Space Station. Looking back at the history of human manned spaceflight, we will find that extravehicular maintenance activities have always accompanied the pace of our human dreams in the sky. In the past few decades, hundreds of astronauts have left spacecraft and space stations to enter outer space to carry out a series of extravehicular activities, including extravehicular maintenance.
As early as May 1973, American astronauts carried out the first extravehicular maintenance mission in human history, when the first US space station "Skylab" was flying around the earth, the micrometeorite shield was torn off and fell off, exposing the "Skylab" space station directly to the sun, causing the internal temperature of "Skylab" to rise sharply.
If this problem cannot be solved, then there will be no comfortable environment in the "Skylab" space station, and astronauts will not be able to work in it.
On May 25, 1973, the United States launched a manned spacecraft to send a crew of astronauts Pete Conrad, astronauts Paul Weitz, and Joseph Kerwin into space.
On May 26, 1973, they entered the Skylab space station, and on June 7, 1973, they carried out an out-of-cabin activity to repair the solar panels of the Skylab space station and successfully unfold the solar panels. This is the first out-of-cabin event in human history.
In the decades that followed, U.S. and Russian astronauts went out of the capsule to make repairs to extravehicular facilities, perhaps most famously the Hubble telescope. During the operation of the Hubble telescope, it has also been hit by micrometeoroids many times, and many holes have appeared in the solar panels.
Even on the current International Space Station, extravehicular maintenance is a regular thing. Therefore, our Tiangong space station needs extravehicular maintenance, not because our technology is not up to standard, this is indeed an unavoidable problem.
Shenzhou-18 is about to be launched
In addition to completing the mainland's first extravehicular maintenance mission, Shenzhou-17 astronaut Tang Hongbo not only became the first astronaut to return to the Tiangong space station on the mainland, but also became the astronaut with the longest total flight time in orbit on the mainland.
Counting the previous 3-month flight time of the Shenzhou 12 spacecraft, Tang Hongbo's in-orbit flight time has been more than 8 months, and when Tang Hongbo completes the return of the Shenzhou 17 spacecraft, his cumulative in-orbit time will be close to 9 months.
Judging from the mission arrangement, the Shenzhou 17 spacecraft will be launched at the end of this month, and it can be said that the return time of the Shenzhou 17 spacecraft is getting closer and closer, and it is expected that there will be 20 days before the end of the flight mission and return to the ground.
As the return time of the Shenzhou 17 spacecraft is getting closer and closer, this also means that the launch time of the Shenzhou 18 spacecraft is getting closer and closer. According to the plan, the Shenzhou-18 spacecraft will also be launched in late April, so in about 20 days, the Shenzhou-18 spacecraft will go to the Chinese space station.
Although the astronaut crew to participate in this mission has been selected, the list has not yet been announced, so we are not sure which three astronauts will participate, nor which astronaut will serve as the commander of this mission.
It stands to reason that every astronaut who goes to space in China is capable of serving as the commander of the mission, but under normal circumstances, astronauts who have just returned to Earth from a space mission will not go to space again in a short period of time, because they need a long time to recover.
In the Shenzhou 17 mission, Tang Hongbo served as the commander, which was indeed unexpected by many netizens. At that time, many people thought that the commander of the Shenzhou-17 mission should be chosen among the three astronauts Yang Liwei, Liu Wang, and Zhang Xiaoguang, because these three astronauts all have experience in space flight, but none of them have ever entered the Chinese space station to carry out flight missions.
Therefore, now everyone can no longer continue to speculate on the commander of the Shenzhou 18 mission, because there are many astronaut combinations to choose from. Although it is impossible to guess the combination of astronauts, the astronauts who have participated in offline activities in the near future should not participate in the Shenzhou 18 mission.
Astronaut Gui Haichao made a public appearance
On March 30, the 2024 China Internet Media Forum with the theme of "Striving for a New Journey and Undertaking a New Mission" opened, and astronaut Gui Haichao participated in the event.
Gui Haichao said that the feeling of traveling in space is particularly good, and the glasses not only do not float up, but also do not press the bridge of the nose, which is very stable. In addition, astronaut Gui Haichao also mentioned things that impressed him in space, he did not expect that one day he could eat sour corn cakes in the Chinese space station and look back at his homeland on the earth, and at that moment his heart was warm, lucky, and proud.