The Shenzhou 14 manned spacecraft and the space station assembly were successfully separated. According to the China Manned Space Engineering Office, the Shenzhou 14 manned spacecraft was successfully separated from the space station assembly. Subsequently, the spacecraft's return capsule will choose an opportunity to return under the control of ground commands, and astronauts Chen Dong, Liu Yang, and Cai Xuzhe are about to embark on a journey home.
Extended reading:
There are many stories in the space station
If everyone hadn't been drifting, this meeting would have been a casual chat, and I would have thought it was two old friends dropping by.
Text | Yang Weige
“Welcome, welcome.”
“Here we come.”
“I haven’t seen you for half a year.”
If everyone hadn't been in such a state of disbelief, the greetings would have been ordinary, and I would have thought it was two old friends dropping by.
At 7:33 on November 30, Beijing time, the long-awaited crew of the Shenzhou 14th astronauts successfully opened their "home" and warmly embraced the Shenzhou 15th astronauts who had come from afar. The group settled in "Tiangong". Later, the two astronauts from the "Victory Reunion" took a space photo together in the Chinese people's own "space home" that could be recorded in history.
A precious group photo of the two astronaut crews
It is understood that the two astronaut crews will conduct their first in-orbit rotation on the space station. During this period, the six astronauts will work and live together on the space station for about five days to complete various scheduled tasks and handover work.
In terms of life, the Chinese Space Station is equipped with two sets of kitchen equipment in orbit, which can prepare meals at the same time. Depending on the size of the space, you can choose to eat together or in separate places. Two crew members can share food. In addition, two crew members can share food. Each cabin is also equipped with two sanitary areas and six sleeping areas, all of which can be used independently.
The Shenzhou 15 mission is the last step in the construction phase of China’s space station and the first step in the application and development phase of the space station. After the on-orbit handover, the Chinese space station will enter the long-term manned mode.
Currently, there are only two space stations operating in orbit, namely the International Space Station and China’s Tianhe Space Station.
Salyut-1 Space Station
Mankind’s first space station is the Salyut series of space stations built by the Soviet Union. From 1971 to 1985, the Salyut series of space stations in service launched numbers 1 to 7, divided into civilian DOS type and military Almaz type. Salyut 2, 3 and 5 space stations are military types.
The United States successfully launched a space station called Skylab in 1973, until it crashed into the atmosphere over the southern Indian Ocean in 1979 and burned up. After that, the Soviet Union launched the Mir space station into orbit in 1986, which fell into the Earth's atmosphere on March 23, 2001.
Mir Space Station
After that, there is the International Space Station, which is jointly built, operated and used by 16 countries. It is the largest, longest and most involved space station in history. The International Space Station, which has the largest number of international space cooperation projects in the country, was officially established in 1998. It completed its construction tasks in 2010 and entered the stage of full use.
International Space Station "accidents" continue
International Space Station
In recent years, the International Space Station, which has an expected lifespan of 15 years but has been in service for 22 years, has often experienced various incidents. An unexpected accident. For example, penetrating cracks were found in the inner wall of the transition section of the Zvezda service module, cracks were found in the Russian Zarya functional cargo compartment of the International Space Station, water suddenly entered the helmet of astronauts while performing tasks outside the cabin, and the robotic arm was damaged. Space debris created a hole visible to the naked eye, damaging the arm and heat insulation
Cracks were found in the "Dawn" module of the International Space Station
The most serious incident experienced by the International Space Station The accident was a "sudden loss of control of the International Space Station."
At the end of July 2021, the thrusters of the Nauka capsule that had just arrived at the International Space Station suddenly started, and the space station outpost unexpectedly flipped backward 540 degrees. After a 47-minute terrifying encounter, Russian flight controllers regained control of the chaotic situation. During this period, the space station performed an unplanned 540-degree "backflip". The interior of the space station turned upside down and required another 180-degree adjustment to restore its original position.
In this regard, NASA stated that all crew members on Space Station No. 65 are safe. Roscosmos said the anomaly was attributed to a software system failure. A similar incident followed in October, when a routine Soyuz capsule thruster test lasted longer than expected, deflecting the International Space Station 60 degrees.
The "female driver" is excellent, the twins are "comparable"
Among the two astronaut crews who "reunion victoriously" today, Liu Yang is the first female astronaut in China to participate in manned spaceflight member.
Historically, the first female astronaut was Tereshkova. On June 16, 1963, 26-year-old Tereshkova entered space on the Vostok 6 manned spacecraft. She flew for 70 hours, 40 minutes and 49 seconds and circled the earth 48 times. She is the first woman in human history to go into space.
The world’s first female astronaut Tereshkova
The world’s first female space shuttle captain is an American. In February 1995, Erin Collins piloted the space shuttle Discovery into space and successfully docked with the Russian Mir space station, making her the world's first female space shuttle pilot.
In 1998, NASA officially appointed her as the captain of the space shuttle, achieving "zero breakthrough" for women in this position. In July 1999, Collins flew the space shuttle Columbia to space for the first time as captain. In 2005, Collins flew the space shuttle to the International Space Station and performed the world's first 360-degree backflip of a space shuttle, saving NASA's reputation that had been hit by the crash of the space shuttle Columbia.
Erin Collins in the cabin of the Space Shuttle Discovery on February 3, 1995
Twin astronauts are also talked about.
Scott Kelly was a captain in the U.S. Navy. He flew more than 40 different aircraft and had more than 8,000 hours of flight records. Due to his excellent physical fitness and superb skills, he officially joined NASA in 1996 to receive astronaut training. In this way, Scott successfully upgraded from flying a plane to flying a spaceship.
Scott’s identical twin brother, Mark, is also an astronaut. NASA conducted an experiment called “Comparative Genetic Research” on the two brothers, that is, to compare the conditions between the Earth environment and the zero-gravity environment. Changes in the human body. Because of the zero gravity in space, astronauts must deal with many risks, such as high-pressure environments, noise, isolation, disruption of circadian rhythms, radiation exposure, and fluid reversal while floating.
Scott Kelly and Mark Kelly
After the experiment began, Scott worked on the International Space Station for one year, and Mark lived on Earth for one year. Researchers from multiple institutions conducted comparative studies on them, collecting and analyzing their health conditions for a total of 25 months before and after the space mission.
The study showed that 6 months after the mission ended, the expression of most of Scott's genes returned to baseline levels. This research proves at the molecular level that the human body has the elasticity and toughness to adapt to the space flight environment, which provides a certain basis for humans to stay in space for a longer period of time in the future.
In addition to people, there are "people" in the space station
While building the "Tiangong" space station, our country has made it clear that it welcomes foreign astronauts to visit, and this has also set off a wave of foreign astronauts. Astronauts’ “craze for learning Chinese.” In fact, in addition to foreign astronauts, there is also an important type of member in the space station, namely robots.
In August 2019, the Russian steel-framed humanoid robot Skybot F-850 took off aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft MS-14.
This is the first full-body humanoid robot to visit the International Space Station. During the entire launch process of the spacecraft, a robot will replace the spacecraft commander and monitor and report in real time the unmanned launch and flight status until the entire process of docking with the International Space Station.
The first full-body humanoid robot to visit the International Space Station
Skybot F-850 is not the only robot on the International Space Station. The full name is Robonaut2, which flew to the International Space Station as early as 2011. R2 is an early experiment to explore how robots and astronauts come into being. Astronauts installed legs on it in 2014, but problems continued to arise. In July 2018, it returned to Earth on the 14th Cargo Dragon spacecraft and underwent inspection and iterative upgrades.
Robonaut2 installed with "long legs"
The full name of CrewInteractiveMobileCompanion flew to the International Space Station in 2018. It is a spherical robot with a smile, weighs 5 kilograms, has an artificial intelligence brain and an 8-inch display. Using propeller-driven thrusters, he can move in a weightless environment, understand music, and master more than 1,000 sentences. It floats around the International Space Station, providing technical assistance, warning of system failures and hazards, and providing a range of entertainment for astronauts.
CIMON really looks like a panda head emoji
To some extent, there are robots outside the space station, which are intelligent robotic arms used to capture and dock spacecraft and carry large components.
Nie Haisheng photographed the large robotic arm of the China Space Station through the large column porthole of the Tianhe core module.
The robotic arm on the core module of the Chinese Space Station is very advanced. It is currently the most intelligent, difficult and complex space intelligent manufacturing system in my country. It is the most realistic restoration of the human arm. The robotic arm has a maximum carrying capacity of 25 tons and can move the space station laboratory. The space station robotic arm can assist astronauts in exiting the space station.