With the approaching of China's Space Day on April 24, the launch of the mainland's Shenzhou 18 has also attracted much attention, according to authoritative media reports, Shenzhou 18 has now been successfully transferred to the launch area and will be launched in late April.
In line with the principle of sending one and preparing for one, the mainland will basically complete the commissioning of Shenzhou 18 when it launches Shenzhou 17 in 2023, so now it is the turn of Shenzhou 18 to be launched.
The corresponding next manned spacecraft should be ready, that is, the Shenzhou 19 that everyone is looking forward to.
As the launch date gets closer and closer, everyone must be very concerned about which astronauts will be invited to travel to space by Shenzhou 9, where are Shenzhou 18 and Shenzhou 19 ready to go, and whether the launch success rate is high? What tasks will be completed in space?
Shenzhou-18 is about to be launched
In fact, when we were looking forward to the launch of Shenzhou 18, have you forgotten that there are now three astronauts in space on the mainland.
The three astronauts are Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie, and Jiang Xinlin, who went into space on the Shenzhou-17 manned spacecraft launched on October 26 last year.
These three astronauts have been in space for nearly five months aboard Shenzhou-17, during which they have successfully completed many missions and dealt with many unexpected situations.
For example, some space junk hit some parts of the continental space station, causing damage to the continental space station, in this case, the astronauts of Shenzhou-17 acted quickly and went out of the capsule twice to complete the repair work.
It is understood that Shenzhou 17 will return home from space at the end of April, and there is one of the most important tasks in space, which is to hand over with Shenzhou 18, and Shenzhou 18 will succeed Shenzhou 17 to continue its mission in space.
Shenzhou-18 began ground development as early as 2022, and from the successful development to the present, it has been continuously debugged for this mission, and on April 17, relevant reports reported the latest situation of Shenzhou-18, saying that the Shenzhou-18 manned spacecraft has been combined with the launch vehicle.
The combination is about 40 tons, and the height has reached 60 meters.
In fact, you may think that the mainland has successfully launched more than 10 manned spacecraft, and it has mastered the technology of manned spacecraft relatively well, and there is no difficulty in launching.
But the truth is not as simple as everyone thinks, in fact, in the months before Shenzhou 18 was put into operation to the launch site, Shenzhou 18 went through various tests.
Moreover, there is a very difficult point for the launch of Shenzhou 18, that is, the weather is not easy to control, because the launch is scheduled for April, and the launch of manned spacecraft from the mainland in previous years was not in April.
Although April is a symbol of the revival of all things in the earth in spring for many cities, for the aerospace industry, it is a month when there are often windy weather, and windy weather will also be accompanied by sand and dust, which is greatly unfavorable for launches.
However, in view of the particularity of the weather in this month, the mainland has made sufficient preparations, for example, the mainland launch site system has conducted a statistical analysis of the meteorological data during this period in the past 30 years, and formulated measures to deal with the special weather.
The mainland not only recorded the weather conditions that may be encountered during the launch, but also upgraded the launch vehicle for the launch of Shenzhou-18.
The launch vehicle uses the Long March-2F, which has a long history, since its first flight in 1999, it has been continuously improved, and the technology is also being updated in real time, and the reliability and safety assessment values of the Long March-2F launch vehicle have been improved.
Therefore, after these preliminary preparations, coupled with the mainland's accumulated experience over the years, the reliability and safety of the mainland's Shenzhou-18 launch are relatively high.
After the launch, Shenzhou-18 will need to perform some tasks in space, including not only some scientific experiments, but also upgrades to the spacecraft and space station.
For example, the spacecraft's battery needs to be replaced, and before that, the continental spacecraft used almost all nickel-cadmium batteries. However, this battery has gradually exposed some problems.
For example, when this kind of battery receives the power provided by our space station, there will be some situations such as uncontrolled charging and discharging, which may affect the operation of manned spacecraft and affect the continent's space mission.
Therefore, in order to solve these problems, after continuous research by the mainland, it was finally decided to install a lithium-ion battery with a long service life and large capacity in the Shenzhou-18 manned spacecraft.
In addition to the battery, this time also to upgrade the continent's space station, in order to allow more astronauts to live on the space station at the same time, but also to make the space station larger, the continent plans to upgrade the space station from three to six cabins.
However, in the face of these arduous tasks, many people are curious, who will be the Shenzhou-18 astronauts who will carry out these missions?
Who exactly are astronauts?
Although the Shenzhou 18 manned spacecraft is about to be launched, the specific astronauts have not yet been determined, but in February, authoritative media broke the news that the six astronauts who carried out the Shenzhou 18 and Shenzhou 19 manned missions have been selected and are carrying out mission training.
So according to this statement, this year's Shenzhou 18 and 19, each manned spacecraft is also 3 astronauts, I don't know if it will adopt the old and new selection methods as in the past.
However, there have been many times when there have been no female astronauts in the Shenzhou series of manned spacecraft, and many netizens are speculating whether there will be female astronauts in Shenzhou 18 this time.
In the history of mainland aerospace, there have been two female astronauts in space, the first is Liu Yang, who was born in 1978, she is the first female astronaut in the mainland, and she has also been in space twice in 10 years.
Liu Yang belongs to the second batch of astronauts, and now she is an older astronaut, and she has also won the second-class aerospace meritorious service medal for her outstanding contributions to the aerospace industry over the years.
The second female astronaut in space is Wang Yaping, who is two years younger than Liu Yang, she is also the second batch of astronauts like Liu Yang, and also won the second-class aerospace meritorious medal, she is the first female astronaut in the mainland to perform the mission out of the capsule, and her outstanding performance in teaching students in space made her known as "the most beautiful space lecturer".
However, in addition to these two female astronauts, there has not yet been a third one in the mainland, so many netizens are very curious and looking forward to the female astronauts boarding Shenzhou 18 this time.
Although in daily training, female astronauts are also the same training difficulty as male astronauts, but because of some particularities of women's bodies, they need to take contraceptives before flying into space to inhibit the function of the reproductive system and reduce problems such as irregular menstruation, so that women can better adapt to the space environment, so compared with male astronauts, female astronauts are more demanding.
However, female astronauts actually have more advantages in space missions, for example, women are generally a little shorter and smaller than men, so it is easier to move around and more flexible in such a narrow space in space.
Secondly, psychologically speaking, female astronauts are generally more delicate and better at communication, so when performing tasks, they can better communicate effectively with the same group of people and improve work efficiency.
However, even if we all look forward to the female astronauts going to space again, the mainland aerospace management department will still select astronauts according to the specific situation, so we don't have to speculate too much now, waiting for the official announcement of the final list, whether it is a male astronaut or a female astronaut who will last to go to space, it is our pride, and we should fully support it.
In fact, in addition to being curious about the launch time of Shenzhou 18, the tasks to be carried out and the choice of astronauts, we are also curious about Shenzhou 19, which is being prepared and will also fly this year.
Next, the editor will take you to understand the current situation of Shenzhou 19 and what tasks the mainland has to complete in manned space this year.
Plans for the mainland's manned space program this year
Now that the launch process of the Shenzhou-18 manned spacecraft has been started, the Shenzhou-19 manned spacecraft has begun to carry out emergency rescue duty in the final assembly test plant.
Shenzhou-19 is also planned to be launched this year, and its launch process will be more complete than Shenzhou-18, and the launch efficiency of Shenzhou-19 will be improved.
And now, Shenzhou-19, like Shenzhou-18, has also determined the candidates for astronauts, and is now undergoing mission training.
This year, in addition to the launch of the Shenzhou-18 and Shenzhou-19 manned spacecraft, the mainland will also launch Tianzhou-7 and Tianzhou-8, and will also complete the recovery of Shenzhou-17 and Shenzhou-18.
Yang Liwei, deputy chief designer of China's manned space project, said that in addition to the cargo spacecraft, there are two manned missions this year, and the six astronauts of the two flight crews of Shenzhou 18 and 19 have been determined.
Looking at this kind of work arrangement, it can be said that the mainland's manned space launch mission this year is relatively full, and while the mainland is completing the flight mission, the astronauts also need to complete more than 150 in-orbit space science research and application projects.
These 150 tasks involve space life science and human research, microgravity physics, and new space technologies.
Therefore, when you see the various space missions that the mainland is about to carry out this year, do you all feel that the mainland's aerospace industry is developing rapidly, and if the various expected tasks are successfully completed, the mainland's aerospace industry and scientific research will make great progress?
However, behind the rapid development of the mainland's aerospace industry, in addition to astronauts, there are many people behind the silent dedication, on the occasion of China's space day, let us pay tribute to all those who have contributed to the aerospace industry, and also wish Shenzhou 18 and Shenzhou 19 and all the mainland's space missions this year are complete success, so that the mainland's aerospace industry will have a new breakthrough.
References:
China News Network - February 29, 2024 "Shenzhou 18 and Shenzhou 19 astronaut crews have been selected"
Beijing News - January 18, 2024 "Shen 18, Shen 19 astronauts have been confirmed! Yang Liwei revealed——"
CCTV - April 18, 2024 "More than 30 technical status improvements! Shenzhou 18 plan to be launched at the right time"