China's space station is about to usher in the first manned launch mission in 2024, and the arrow is ready to set off immediately! There will be a total of two manned launch missions before and after China's manned space flight in 2024, and the Shenzhou-18 and Shenzhou-19 manned spacecraft are on standby at this moment, which is worth looking forward to!
The Shenzhou-17 manned spacecraft, three astronauts Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin, who have been stationed on the Chinese space station since October 26, 2023, are about to complete six months of in-orbit flight, which also means that their space mission is about to come to a successful end!
Of course, before returning to Earth, they still need to meet the astronaut crew of Shenzhou 18 in orbit, and the six astronauts will conduct a wave of space rendezvous, complete the mission handover in orbit, and finally return to Earth.
During the nearly six-month mission in orbit, the Shenzhou-17 crew carried out two significant spacewalks and completed the repair of the solar wing of the "Tianhe" core module, which was also the first time in the history of China's manned spaceflight. Acquired the skills of maintenance of vehicles in orbit, which will be essential for the use and maintenance of the space station in the future!
The six-month space mission is nearing completion, and the "youngest crew in history" is about to return to Earth.
Prior to this, the Shenzhou-18 manned spacecraft needed to complete the task of launching into orbit, and the entire line was now in place, and the Shenzhou-18 was about to set off! According to the latest news from the China Manned Space Engineering Office, the Shenzhou-18 spacecraft will stand tall at the launch site after it completes its vertical transfer. On April 21, the Shenzhou-18 launch mission completed joint exercises, and a joint inspection and test of man, ship, arrow, and ground was carried out in accordance with the official launch procedures.
The crew of three astronauts of Shenzhou 18 also entered the spacecraft to simulate the launch process, which can be regarded as having completed all the preparations before the launch, and it can be said that the whole line is in place and is about to set off!
The six astronauts who will carry out the two manned missions in 2024 have already been determined, and they will not be announced to the public until the day before the actual launch, which is considered a secret stage until then. The interviews were conducted from another perspective, where it was determined that the astronauts on the mission were training at all possible times and therefore did not have time to participate in the activities openly.
From this point of view, some astronauts can actually be excluded, such as Wang Yaping and Liu Yang, who have appeared in public more than once to participate in activities, which also means that they will not participate in the Shenzhou 18 and Shenzhou 19 manned missions, and there will be no female commanders for the time being.
China's space station has been under construction and put into use since 2021, and since the Shenzhou-12 manned mission, astronaut crews have entered the Chinese space station, but so far there are still astronauts in China's first batch of astronauts who have not performed space station missions, they are Yang Liwei, Liu Wang and Zhang Xiaoguang.
However, these three senior astronauts have all appeared to participate in activities, and it is obvious that they will not appear in the Shenzhou 18 manned mission! In fact, it is really a pity that these three astronauts have not entered China's own space station, and of course there may be opportunities in the future.
It can be seen from the composition of the three astronauts of Shenzhou 17 that China's second batch of astronauts has become the backbone of the force, and even carried the banner, Chen Dong previously served as the commander of the Shenzhou 14 mission, and now Tang Hongbo is the first person to return to Tiangong as the commander of the Shenzhou 17 mission.
According to this law, in the Shenzhou 18 mission, Ye Guangfu will most likely become the commander, and at the same time become the second astronaut to return to Tiangong, and he will also be bound to break Tang Hongbo's record of the most frequent in-orbit flight time.
And the astronauts 02 and 03 are likely to be new faces, selected from the third batch of Chinese astronauts.
There are 18 astronauts in China's third batch, including a female astronaut, and only four have shown up to perform flight missions, they are Zhu Yangzhu, Gui Haichao, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin, the Shenzhou 18 astronaut crew is likely to be two out of 14, plus Ye Guangfu as the commander!
According to astronaut Liu Yang, at present, China's fourth batch of reserve astronauts has also been selected and will soon be completed.
In fact, at this moment at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, in addition to the upcoming Shenzhou 18 manned spacecraft, the Shenzhou 19 manned spacecraft has also been prepared and can be launched at any time, of course, Shenzhou 19 will only be launched in an emergency.
With the development of China's manned spaceflight, the number of astronauts is gradually increasing, from the fixed launch frequency of six astronauts twice a year at the current stage, to the future transfer from the near-earth space station to the manned lunar landing or even manned landing, it is worth looking forward to!
According to some information, the Shenzhou 18 manned launch mission may be carried out on the evening of April 25, and interested partners should not miss it!
文/奇点三分钟，图片来源网络侵删。