"Strongest Double Twelve" teamed up to send 3 astronauts to the space station

Jiuquan, June 17 (China News Network) -- At 9:22 Beijing time on June 17, the Long March 2F Yao 12 carrier rocket lifted the Shenzhou 12 manned spacecraft and dragged the red tail flame into the air. The "Strongest Double Twelve" joined forces to send Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming, and Tang Hongbo 3 astronauts into space. This is the first manned mission of the Chinese space station in the orbit construction stage, and the space station construction mission has once again taken a big step forward.

Gathering Heaven and Earth to And From "Skill Points"

The Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft is the first manned spacecraft in the mission phase of the Chinese space station, and it is also the manned spacecraft with the highest standards and the strictest requirements for various indicators developed by China so far.

According to the predetermined plan, the Shenzhou XII spacecraft will adopt the mode of autonomous rapid rendezvous and docking, and the space station and the forward facing interface of the core module will form a combination, and the three astronauts will return to the ground after about 90 days in space.

"Shenzhou XII is the most complete and complete spacecraft so far, and from the image point of view, it has fully achieved the development goal of the manned spacecraft at the beginning of the manned space project." Gao Xu, deputy chief designer of the Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft system of the overall design department of the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, said so. From the moment he entered the launch site, he looked forward to the launch day.

Gao Xu introduced that the Shenzhou 12 spacecraft is composed of an orbital module, a return module and a propulsion module, and there are 14 subsystems in the whole ship, which is the "boat of life" for astronauts to realize the round-trip between heaven and earth. The orbital module is equipped with key equipment such as astronauts' on-orbit life support equipment and rendezvous and docking sensors, which is fully prepared for autonomous and rapid rendezvous and docking; the return module is the module in which the astronauts ride during the launch and return of the spacecraft, which is the "brain" of the spacecraft; the propulsion module is equipped with propulsion systems, power supplies and other equipment to provide power for the spacecraft and control the attitude orbit during the flight.

In fact, the leapfrog development of Shenzhou manned spacecraft is not achieved in one step, since September 21, 1992, China's manned space project "three-step" development strategy was established, Shenzhou manned spacecraft through time and again, the success of one after another continues to accumulate experience and technology.

Shenzhou No. 1 to Shenzhou No. 4 realized the unmanned verification of the round-trip between heaven and earth, Shenzhou No. 5 carried astronaut Yang Liwei to achieve manned space-to-earth round-trip, Shenzhou No. 6 realized multi-day multi-day round-trip activities, Shenzhou No. 7 realized astronaut out of the capsule activity, Shenzhou No. 8 to Shenzhou No. 10 broke through unmanned rendezvous docking and manned rendezvous docking, and Shenzhou 11 realized the mid-term residency of astronauts.

Today, the Successful Launch of the Shenzhou XII Spacecraft has laid a good start for the space station construction mission manned spacecraft to travel back and forth between heaven and earth. At this point, Shenzhou XII has gathered all the "skill points" required for the full mission and full mode of heaven and earth round trip.

Set a record for five "Firsts in China"

In this mission, which has attracted worldwide attention, the Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft has refreshed the new height of China's manned spaceflight technology, completed five "Chinese firsts", that is, the first time to achieve manned autonomous and rapid docking with the tianhe core module, the first time to implement a radial rendezvous with the space station, the first time to have the ability to return to the Dongfeng landing field from different altitude orbits, the first time to achieve long-term orbital docking of manned spacecraft, and the first time to have the emergency rescue capability of combining multiple guarantees between heaven and earth.

Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft will implement manned autonomous rapid docking for the first time, and with the cooperation of the space station's continuous adjustment of attitude, the Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft can achieve docking with the space station as soon as 6.5 hours after launch. In addition, for the first time, the Shenzhou XII spacecraft will achieve long-term orbital docking of manned spacecraft, and the spacecraft will be in orbit for 3 months.

Experts from the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Group introduced that before Shenzhou XII, Shenzhou manned spacecraft returned to the earth from a fixed orbit, and in order to save the consumption of propellant in the space station mission, the orbital position will be adjusted accordingly with different time nodes to meet the requirements of long-term docking. To this end, the Shenzhou team re-adapted the return orbit, adjusted the return height of the manned spacecraft from a fixed value to a relative range, and improved the algorithm of the return, improved the adaptability and reliability of the return of the manned spacecraft, and made the Shenzhou spacecraft have the ability to return to the Dongfeng landing field from different altitude orbits for the first time.

"Manned spaceflight, human life is at stake" has always been the credo in the hearts of the Shenzhou team. In order to ensure that both the sky and the earth have the ability to protect the lives of astronauts and pick up astronauts under emergency conditions, the Shenzhou team has created an emergency rescue mission mode that combines heaven and earth, that is, to carry two spaceships into the field, and one spacecraft is used as a backup for the launch spacecraft, as a life rescue boat for astronauts in the event of an emergency. The Shenzhou team adopts the "rolling standby" strategy, when the first manned spacecraft is launched, the latter manned spacecraft is on standby at the launch site, and has an 8.5-day emergency launch capability to achieve space rescue capabilities, fully ensuring the safety of astronauts' lives.

Review of China's manned spaceflight project:

On September 21, 1992, since the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee approved the "three-step" development strategy of manned space projects, China's Shenzhou No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4 have been successfully launched one after another, laying a solid foundation for subsequent manned missions through experiments with four unmanned missions.

On October 15, 2003, the Shenzhou 5 manned spacecraft took off astronaut Yang Liwei and returned to the ground safely after 14 rounds of flight around the earth, making China the third country in the world after Russia and the United States to carry out manned space activities independently.

On October 12, 2005, the Shenzhou VI manned spacecraft carried astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng to the sky, completed a number of operations in orbit, realized the space flight test with real participation for the first time, successfully surveyed the sky for many days, and successfully achieved the goal of the first step of the project.

On September 25, 2008, the Shenzhou 7 spacecraft took three astronauts, Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming, and Jing Haipeng, into space. Space hero Zhai Zhigang entered space from the orbital module and took the first step Chinese walk through space.

On November 1, 2011, the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft successfully implemented the first unmanned rendezvous and docking, achieving a major leap forward in the development of China's space technology, and is another new victory achieved by the Chinese people on the journey of climbing the world's scientific and technological peak.

On June 16, 2012, the Shenzhou 9 manned spacecraft docked with Tiangong-1 again, and successfully docked twice through automatic control and manual control, and astronauts Jing Haipeng, Liu Wang, and Liu Yang, China's first female astronaut, entered Tiangong-1, breaking through the hand-controlled rendezvous and docking technology.

On June 11, 2013, the Shenzhou 10 spacecraft conducted the second manned rendezvous and docking flight, and astronauts Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping entered Tiangong-1 after successfully completing the rendezvous and docking.

On October 17, 2016, the Shenzhou 11 spacecraft and the Tiangong-2 docked to form a combination, and Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong performed a 30-day combination mission, assessed the medium-term residency support capability, and carried out a series of space science and application tasks that reflected the international scientific frontier and the development direction of high and new technologies.

On June 17, 2021, the Shenzhou 12 spacecraft carried Three astronauts, Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo, and will complete a rapid rendezvous and docking with the space station's Tianhe core module, and the construction task of the Chinese space station will steadily advance. (End)

Source: China News Network