On April 30, the Shenzhou-17 spacecraft ended its six-month flight journey and landed safely at the Dongfeng landing site, and the three astronauts returned triumphantly. Attentive friends will find that whether it is the astronauts of the Shenzhou 17 spacecraft this time or the previous manned missions, the astronauts cannot stand up when they get out of the capsule, and they still need to be carried by staff and sit on chairs to rest. What's going on?
I have to say that astronauts have paid too much for the aerospace cause of our human race. Before the mission, the astronauts need to spend a long time to participate in the regular training of astronauts, which is very arduous and difficult for ordinary people to withstand such high-intensity training. Previously, astronaut Jing Haipeng had mentioned his daily training, he had to do 600 push-ups, 600 sit-ups and thousands of rope skips every day, which has become his "standard".
After entering the space station era, astronauts have become a regular thing, and the training before the mission is also high-intensity and high-load training. Astronauts need to conduct underwater training to simulate the scene when they leave the capsule, they need to wear underwater training suits weighing up to 200 kilograms, and train underwater for 6-7 hours, during which they cannot eat or go to the bathroom, and the training intensity is quite high. When recalling the training scene, astronaut Tang Hongbo said that after the training, he couldn't even hold chopsticks when eating.
For astronauts, they are either on a space mission or preparing for a space flight. Even when performing flight missions, their tasks are very heavy. For example, the Shenzhou-17 astronaut crew who have just returned to Earth from the Chinese space station has spent a long time participating in the regular training of astronauts before the mission, and after being selected for the Shenzhou-18 crew, they also need to participate in relevant mission training.
The Shenzhou-17 astronauts went on a six-month business trip to space, during which they carried out a series of scientific experiments and experiments, and also carried out two out-of-cabin activities to repair the solar wing of the core module of the Chinese space station Tianhe. The Shenzhou-18 astronaut crew, which is on a mission to China's space station, needs to install space debris protection devices. It can be said that the task is very difficult, even when returning to Earth in the spacecraft, they still face a series of situations, one of which cannot stand up when leaving the capsule, and needs to be carried by the ground staff and sit on a chair to rest.
Why was it carried away?
In fact, astronauts will not necessarily be carried away when they return to the ground in a spacecraft, it depends on the situation. For example, on October 16, 2003, astronaut Yang Liwei returned to Earth from space on the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft.
At that time, the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft flew for 21 hours and 23 minutes, so the impact on astronaut Yang Liwei was not very great, and Yang Liwei could still get out of the capsule on his own after landing. After entering the era of the space station, a single space flight lasted for several months, which had a greater impact on the astronauts' bodies, and the astronauts were carried away when they returned. Such a situation will not only occur in our Shenzhou spacecraft, but also the Russian Soyuz manned spacecraft and the American Manned Dragon spacecraft will face such problems when the astronauts leave the capsule when they return home.
Because the environment of outer space is completely different from the environment on the ground, on the ground, we are subject to gravity all the time, the muscles and bones of the body are fighting against gravity, and the bone of the body always maintains a dynamic balance, that is, the amount of bone loss and the amount of bone production are basically the same.
In the weightless environment of outer space, our body loses the restraint of gravity, the whole person is floating, and the amount of bone loss is more than the amount generated, breaking this dynamic balance. This is something that cannot be avoided, so bone loss and osteoporosis are common problems faced by astronauts.
Under such circumstances, astronauts often feel "weak feet" and cannot stand up when they return to Earth from a long-term space mission. If you stand up rashly, it is very dangerous, and if you are not careful, you may fall and get injured.
Studies have shown that pregnant women can also have bone loss, but compared with pregnant women, astronaut bone loss is more serious, and the amount of astronaut bone loss is equivalent to the amount of bone loss in 10 months of pregnant women after 1 month of flight in outer space. In addition, because the rate of bone production is relatively slow, the symptoms of osteoporosis will last for a long time even after the astronauts return to Earth, so it will take a long time for astronauts to recover after returning to Earth.
It is precisely because the astronauts cannot go out of the capsule and stand and walk on their own when the spacecraft returns, so when the spacecraft returns to the earth, a large number of search and rescue teams need to be dispatched, including air and ground search and rescue forces, including helicopters, vehicles, and many professionals.
When the spacecraft lands on the ground, the ground staff will not immediately open the hatch to lift the astronauts out of the spacecraft, but need to understand the astronauts' positions and adjust the astronauts' positions according to the actual situation. At the same time, the ground staff will also supplement the astronauts with some nutrients, which will also help to promote the astronauts to quickly readapt to the gravity environment on the ground.
The chair that the astronauts sit on after leaving the capsule is not an ordinary chair, but a special astronaut carrying seat, which has many new functions, which can adjust a more suitable position for the astronaut and help the astronaut better adapt to the gravity environment on the ground.