At 9 a.m. on 24 April, a press conference was held on the Shenzhou-18 manned mission, and the three astronauts who participated in the mission were officially announced, and the crew was composed of astronauts Ye Guangfu, Li Cong, and Li Guangsu, of which astronaut Ye Guangfu served as the commander of the mission, and the other two astronauts Li Cong and Li Guangsu went to space for the first time to carry out the flight mission.
This mission is still led by the second group of astronauts and the third group of astronauts to space. These three astronauts are all "post-80s", among which Ye Guangfu has carried out space missions before, has very rich flight experience, and is fully able to complete this mission excellently.
Ye Guangfu was successfully selected as China's second batch of astronauts in May 2010, and on October 16, 2021, he and astronauts Zhai Zhigang and Wang Yaping took the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft to the Chinese space station to carry out the second manned mission of the Chinese space station. On December 26, 2021, Ye Guangfu carried out the second out-of-cabin activity of the astronauts of the Shenzhou-13 mission. After flying for 6 months, the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft successfully landed at the Dongfeng landing field.
Shenzhou 18th Shogun Expedition
Now the official press conference of the Shenzhou 18 mission has been held, and the astronauts who participated in the mission have also been made public, which does mean that the mission will be implemented. In fact, the official also announced the launch time of the Shenzhou 18 spacecraft, which will be launched at 20:59 pm on April 25, 2024.
Many netizens may wonder why every time a spacecraft is launched to the Chinese space station, the launch time is strictly controlled at a certain time? Whether it is the launch of the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft, the launch of the Shenzhou manned spacecraft, or the launch of the Wentian experimental module and the Mengtian experimental module, in fact, they are all the same, and the launch mission needs to be carried out at an accurate time.
When the Tianhe core module was launched before, the requirements for this launch time may not be so strict, but when the Wentian experimental module was launched, the "zero window" launch was strictly implemented, which was the first "zero window" launch since the Wenchang launch site carried out the space station construction mission.
Under normal circumstances, spacecraft, satellites, probes and other spacecraft are launched into space, the launch window has many time periods, if it was originally planned to be launched in a certain period of time, but due to weather or other reasons can not be launched on time, it can still be adjusted, but now the spacecraft launched needs to rendezvous and dock with the Chinese space station assembly, and the accuracy of the launch time is required to be higher, according to the "zero window" The deviation between the time of rocket launch and the scheduled ignition time cannot exceed 1 second. Since the deviation requirements are extremely small, the requirements for rockets and launch sites are even higher.
This is because the space station assembly flies at an altitude of about 400 kilometers in low-earth orbit, and the flight speed is quite fast, more than 7 kilometers per second, and if the launch time deviation is relatively large, when the spacecraft is launched into the predetermined orbit, the distance between the spacecraft and the space station assembly is relatively far. In this case, the spacecraft would need to fly longer to rendezvous and dock with the space station assembly, and it would need to consume more fuel.
This is actually more than worth the loss, and it is not good for the astronauts, because when the spacecraft is launched, the three astronauts are in the spacecraft return capsule, and the space in the spacecraft return capsule is very limited, so the astronauts cannot move in the narrow return capsule, and the longer the flight time, the more uncomfortable it is. Therefore, now our manned spacecraft are launched by fast rendezvous and docking, and they can reach the Chinese space station in a few hours.
This is also the reason why the space station assembly needs to be adjusted in orbit before launching the spacecraft to the space station. This is not only the case with our space station, but also with the International Space Station. Due to various reasons, the Crew Dragon spacecraft launched by the United States on March 3 this year flew for almost 28 hours before it rendezvous and docked with the International Space Station.
Shenzhou 17 is about to return
Now that the official announcement of the launch time of the Shenzhou 18 spacecraft has been announced, this flight mission can be said to have entered the countdown stage. With the arrival of the Shenzhou 18 spacecraft, the Shenzhou 17 spacecraft is about to return to Earth and end the six-month mission.
So far, the three astronauts of Shenzhou 17 have been flying in orbit for almost 6 months, and the astronaut crew of the Shenzhou 18 mission is about to be ushered in, and the flight mission of the Chinese space station will be completed by the astronauts of Shenzhou 18 in the next 6 months.
Compared with the previous missions, Shenzhou 17 has many highlights, one of which is that astronaut Tang Hongbo became the first astronaut in the mainland to return to the Chinese space station, he has performed 2 missions, before the Shenzhou 17 mission, he participated in the Shenzhou 12 mission, becoming one of the first astronauts to enter the Chinese space station to carry out flight missions.
Because after entering the space station era, the astronauts have a long time in orbit at a time, of which the time of the Shenzhou 12 mission is 3 months, the time of the Shenzhou 16 mission is 5 months, and the flight time of the other Shenzhou 13, Shenzhou 13, Shenzhou 15, and Shenzhou 17 is 6 months, so when the Shenzhou 17 mission ends, the astronaut Tang Hongbo's in-orbit flight time has accumulated nearly 9 months, creating a new record for the flight time of mainland astronauts in orbit.
Now the Shenzhou-17 spacecraft mission is nearing its end and is expected to return to Earth at the end of April. This return voyage also uses the technology of rapid return, that is, reducing the number of circles around the earth, and landing at the Dongfeng landing site after a few hours of flight. This kind of fast return technology has been used in several previous missions, and it is very mature.
Shenzhou 19 is on standby
Shenzhou 18 is about to go to the Chinese space station, and at this time, the Shenzhou 19 spacecraft has also begun to appear in everyone's sight. Although the official has not yet announced the specific launch time of Shenzhou 19, the flight time of Shenzhou 18 is 6 months, so it can be inferred from here that the launch time of Shenzhou 19 should also be in October. Even though there is still almost half a year before the launch of the Shenzhou-19 spacecraft, the astronauts participating in this mission have been determined, and the manned spacecraft and rocket are ready and on standby.
This is because the flight time of Shenzhou 18 is as long as half a year, which means that there will be more risks to face, if the space station and spacecraft encounter an emergency, the Shenzhou 19 spacecraft on standby on the ground will be quickly launched and lifted off to the Chinese space station to pick up the astronauts. Since the launch of the Shenzhou 12 spacecraft, the Shenzhou 13 spacecraft has entered a state of standby, and has continued the mode of "sending one and preparing one" over the years, mainly to ensure the safety of astronauts during orbital flights.