[Preface]
Beneath the romantic and dreamy exterior of the universe, there is endless darkness and danger, as well as countless days and nights of struggle and loneliness.
In the journey of chasing the stars and the sea, we only see the glory of success, but ignore the hardships behind the astronauts, and ignore the sacrifice and perseverance of countless families.
Wang Yaping, an excellent astronaut, talked about the hardships of his space journey, astronauts are even harder than we imagined, and after returning from space, they are even too weak to walk.
What kind of unusual experience did she have, and why did she become so weak that she couldn't even walk after landing from space?
Hands can pick the stars
In 2012, 32-year-old Wang Yaping became a candidate for China's first batch of female astronauts, and Wang Yaping was both happy and apprehensive at this time, after all, he was only a candidate.
At that time, Wang Yaping's family was also very proud of her, but they were also a little worried, because they didn't know how space would affect their bodies.
At that time, Wang Yaping and her husband had been married for three years, but they had no children, but Wang Yaping put the space landing in front of the family, but fortunately, her husband had always encouraged him behind his back.
However, it is a pity that Wang Yaping was not successfully selected this time, although it is difficult to hide the loss in his heart, he is still proud of his friend Liu Yang at the same time, who is about to fly into space.
In 2013, Wang Yaping, who performed well, became an astronaut of Shen Shi, and finally had the opportunity to really go to space.
I don't know if it's because of the physiological structure of men and women, but the number of female astronauts in the world is far lower than that of men.
In a place as mysterious as the universe and completely different from the Earth's environment, astronauts have many challenges to face.
Although Liu Yang is the first female astronaut in the mainland to go into space, Wang Yaping is the first female astronaut to go out of the capsule.
Wang Yaping did not complete such a feat as the first time she landed in space, she became a "star picker" when she landed in space for the second time.
In 2021, Wang Yaping went to space with his colleagues for the second time, and this time, Wang Yaping broke the record and walked out of the space capsule with Zhai Zhigang.
From the relevant information, we can see that the two of them were only working outside the cabin for a few minutes, but for the astronauts, these minutes are quite long.
Because extravehicular operations are still very dangerous for the technology that humans have mastered at this stage, it is possible that a little mistake will bring very serious consequences.
However, Zhai Zhigang and Wang Yaping both completed the task of extravehicular operation excellently, returned to the capsule smoothly, and spent 183 days on the space station.
They set off in October 2021, but when they returned, it was already April 2022, and their mission was to verify the key technologies of the space station.
But astronauts have to face not only the vast universe in space, but also weightlessness, and compared with the two male astronauts, Wang Yaping's life will be more inconvenient.
Every small action in space seems simple, but it has to be trained hundreds or thousands of times on the ground in order to meet the standards of going to space.
Wang Yaping was able to go to space twice, naturally because she had undergone unbearable rigorous training, and her journey of chasing stars and chasing the moon was more admirable than picking stars by hand.
A journey to chase the stars and the moon
Wang Yaping was born in 1980, and there is a younger sister at home.
The younger sister is more in line with the expectations of her parents, but Wang Yaping likes to climb trees since she was a child, and she has planted a lot of cherry trees at home, so Wang Yaping always climbs on the cherry trees to play.
Because she was naughty, her clothes were always scratched when she was a child, but she didn't care about it at all, but she was naughty when she was a child, and she showed unusual strength after going to school.
Some people say that girls' grades will be better than boys when they are young, but Wang Yaping is not convinced, so from childhood to adulthood, her grades are firmly at the top of the list.
Not only is the performance of the cultural class among the best, but even the physical education teacher is not far behind, the physical education teacher also praised Wang Yaping, her physical fitness, even male classmates can't compare.
Sometimes there is a sports competition, and the first thing the teacher thinks of is Wang Yaping, until the college entrance examination, the teacher encourages Wang Yaping to participate in Zhaofei.
Because before this, in fact, the teacher already knew her parents' plans for Wang Yaping's future, because the family conditions were limited, so she hoped that Wang Yaping would end her studies after graduating from high school, after all, there was a younger sister below.
Wang Yaping is actually unwilling in his heart, recruiting Fei is simply a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, once he enters the military academy, not only does he have a way out, but the pressure at home will be less.
After determining his goal, Wang Yaping began to work in this direction, and after layers of screening, Wang Yaping was successfully admitted to Changchun Flight Academy.
Training at school is undoubtedly hard, and the summer in Changchun is actually very hot, and when training outdoors, almost no one's clothes are dry, and girls are no exception.
But in winter, the challenge is even more severe, after all, the low temperature in Changchun is not something that anyone can withstand, and at the age of 18, the persevering Wang Yaping finally ushered in the first flight of her life.
Although the first time was only half an hour, it was one of the most precious memories of her life, and later Wang Yaping successfully graduated, and also became a pilot of a transport plane, and performed well in the Wenchuan earthquake relief materials, and the clouds and rain before the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games.
In 2009, Wang Yaping was included in the ranks of the second batch of national astronauts, which was also the first time that the mainland recruited female astronauts.
But being an astronaut is not the same as a pilot, the selection criteria for astronauts are more stringent, and the challenges are more numerous and heavier.
It is not easy to go to space, especially women, who have a congenital gap with men in terms of physical fitness.
In order to make up for her congenital shortcomings, Wang Yaping is always motivating herself to do more and better than her male colleagues, and she has always believed that she will be able to do the work of an astronaut.
"I'm sure I'll be up to the task!"
For Wang Yaping, these hard trainings can only be regarded as pediatrics, because really hard training is always the next one.
One of the biggest tests of the space environment for the human body is the absence of gravity, and in such an environment, the human heart can easily be affected.
In addition to the heart and brain, there are edema all over the body, varicose veins, and even the eyeballs can be compressed to a certain extent, causing vision problems.
Therefore, in addition to physical fitness training, astronauts also have to carry out centrifuge training, which is also to minimize the damage suffered by astronauts when performing tasks.
When Wang Yaping faced centrifuge training for the first time, although the training duration was only a few tens of seconds, the rotation speed of 100 kilometers per hour still made her feel difficult to breathe, and tears were forced out.
Ordinary people who have not been trained may be nauseous and vomiting after a few laps at such a rotational speed, and then it will take a long time to recover.
But when the astronauts train on the centrifuge for the first time, the rotation time is as high as tens of seconds, and as the training deepens, the speed will get faster and longer.
After rigorous training, Wang Yaping went to space in 2013 and later became a "space mentor", explaining a lot of physics knowledge in the distant universe.
And before she went to space for the second time, she had to train even more difficult than before, but she never thought of backing down.
Many people may have seen the wilderness survival training of soldiers through film and television works or some documentaries, and as pilots, wilderness survival training is of course also essential.
But pilots or astronauts, they receive field survival training, which is not the same as military personnel who value combat.
In 2018, Wang Yaping and his crew traveled to the Badain Jaran Desert, where they were to carry out wilderness survival training, and in the desert, such a task is obviously more difficult than in the mountains or rainforests.
In the desert, the most difficult thing is the lack of water, water is the source of life, lack of water will lead to a lack of oxygen and a rapid decrease in physical fitness, and in severe cases, it may even be life-threatening.
As the captain of the team, Wang Yaping has even more pressure, as they have to complete the field survival training at the same time, they also have to complete various necessary trainings such as close rescue contact, desert field travel, and emergency evacuation of the waiting section of the launch site.
Some people may think that training is hard, but being able to travel in space is all worth it, but the truth is that after arriving in space, they face more tests, and even leaving space and returning to Earth will have a serious impact on their bodies.
Because in space, they have been living in a gravity-free environment, and during the landing process, when the spacecraft enters the atmosphere, they must slow down to ensure a smooth landing.
In this process, even if they have a spacesuit body, they have to bear more than four times the weight of their own weight.
In weightlessness, that is, when astronauts are in space, because there is no gravity, the blood of the whole body will be redistributed, and there will be more blood in the head.
In addition, if you don't use force for a long time, your muscles will atrophy, and osteoporosis will occur, and when you return, you will experience overweight several times your weight, and the astronauts' bodies will be so weak that they can't even walk.
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In fact, every astronaut knows what they are facing, but none of them flinched, but regarded this experience as a medal of honor.
"Whenever I return from a successful space journey, I am always full of passion, I am very happy that we have successfully completed the mission, and have lived up to the expectations of the motherland and the people, and I am also very fortunate to be able to integrate my personal dream into the Chinese dream and the aerospace dream. ”
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Resources
Xinhuanet's report on April 24, 2024, "Wang Yaping Recalls the Space Journey: Living Up to the Expectations and Trust of the Motherland and the People".
The Guangdong Women's Federation quoted a report by China Women's Daily on April 24, 2024, titled "They are the "stars" we want to chase!".
CCTV reported on June 13, 2013 that the Shenzhou 10 flight crew was composed of Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping
Poster News reported on April 24, 2024 "Guanlan Pavilion丨China's "Chang'e Project" and Shandong Girl Wang Yaping: A "Dream of Running to the Moon" Spanning 4,000 Years".