In the vast universe, there is a group of brave explorers who are taking spacecraft as their home, writing a glorious chapter in human spaceflight in the distant space. With the completion of China's space station complex, Chinese astronauts will enter a new era of continuous residence in space, and the launch of the Shenzhou-19 manned spacecraft will kick off this grand journey.
As soon as Shenzhou 18 went, Shenzhou 19 was on standby
On April 25, 2023, the Shenzhou-18 manned spacecraft was launched as scheduled, and after about six and a half hours of flight, it docked with the Tianhe core module of the Chinese space station, and the crew of three astronauts began a six-month in-orbit mission. With the take-off of the 18th spacecraft, Shenzhou 19 has also begun to enter the public eye.
Since China's manned space flight entered the space station era, it has formed a working mode of "one ship in the sky and one ship on the ground". When one spacecraft is on a mission to the space station, the next spacecraft is on standby at the ground launch site, ready to take on the baton. According to the plan, the Shenzhou-18 mission will return in late October this year, when Shenzhou-19 will immediately take over and go to the space station to carry out in-orbit handover with the 18th crew.
The establishment of this rolling launch mechanism not only ensures that the space station will not have an "unmanned period", but also provides a strong guarantee for the life of the astronaut crew in orbit. Intense cosmic radiation in outer space and dense asteroid debris are potentially huge threats, and in the event of an emergency, backup spacecraft can immediately rescue them. For the Shenzhou 19 crew, perhaps the most important task at present is to be ready to be on call at any time.
The dream of "small goal" landing on the moon takes off on a new journey
Who will be the three crew members of the Shenzhou-19 crew? This important information has always attracted much attention. From the current point of view, Liu Yang has a great chance to return to space. As China's first female astronaut, she performed well in both the 2012 Shen-9 mission and the 2022 Shen-14 mission, and is already a mother of two children, which fully proves that the rumor that astronauts' fertility will not be affected is pure nonsense.
Not long ago, Liu Yang revealed his "small goal" in an interview: That is, by 2030, he will be able to set foot on the moon with the Chinese aerospace team and realize the Chinese nation's thousand-year-old aerospace dream! Since Armstrong stepped on the moon for the first time in 1969, the moon has become the new ultimate goal of the aerospace industry of all mankind. Four years later, Chinese astronauts will land on the moon for the first time, and Liu Yang, as a new generation of astronauts, naturally hopes to have the opportunity to embark on this new milestone in the exploration journey of all mankind.
Compared with working and living in orbit, the mission to the moon does present more challenges. Although the surface of the moon is only one-sixth of the Earth's gravity, there is still a certain gravitational effect. Surviving in microgravity requires special training and material preparation. In addition, the harsh vacuum environment on the lunar surface, the drastic temperature differences, and the threat from space radiation and asteroids also put great pressure on the construction and maintenance of lunar bases. However, the greater the challenge and the farther the ambition, the more human beings can be stimulated to explore relentlessly.
"Send one and prepare one" to ensure that the two personnel are permanently in orbit
The vigorous development of the mainland's manned space industry is due to the silent efforts of countless scientific and technological workers and astronauts. In addition to the crew of "one ship in the sky", there are more astronaut colleagues who go all out on the ground to do a good job in various support and support work.
Shortly after the launch of Shenzhou-18, two female astronauts Liu Yang and Wang Yaping, who are considered the "most promising", have appeared, and although they did not carry out this mission, it is expected that with the launch of Shenzhou-19 and more new spacecraft, they will have countless opportunities to return to the blue sky. In addition, there are new faces from the third batch of astronauts, which is expected to further enhance the combat effectiveness of China's space team.
As the "main force" of manned space flight, mainland astronauts can be described as full of talent and vigor. Moreover, since the beginning of the Shenzhou 10 mission, the mainland has formed a "new normal" in which two astronauts perform missions in orbit at the same time. According to this calculation, in the future, China's space station will always have two astronauts in orbit. In the future, it will gradually increase to 4 crew members per launch, and eventually achieve the goal of 6 astronauts staying for a long time to ensure that the space station can be fully utilized.
The launch of Shenzhou-19 will undoubtedly be an important step in the journey of Chinese astronauts to continue to stay in space. In the future, people will use videos and pictures to track the daily life and work of astronauts in space in real time, and at the same time, experimental data will continue to be transmitted back to Earth to further promote the development of scientific research. There is no doubt that China's aerospace industry is giving birth to a new magnificent chapter, and brave human beings will move towards the vast sky with a new attitude.