Three steps to "reaching the sky": China's confidence in manned space flight comes from self-reliance and self-improvement

On February 24, the "Pursuing Dreams in the Universe and Asking the Sky - Exhibition on 30 Years of Achievements of China's Manned Space Program" was officially launched at the National Museum, comprehensively and systematically displaying the development process and construction achievements of China's manned space program to the public.

On September 21, 1992, China's manned space program was officially launched; on December 31, 2022, President Xi Jinping solemnly announced to the world in his New Year's message that "China's space station has been fully completed." From blueprints to dreams, generations of Chinese astronauts have spent a full 30 years to complete the "three-step" strategic mission and build the independently built and independently operated "Tiangong" space station, adding a milestone in the journey of building a space power and climbing to the peak of science and technology.

Where does the confidence to "go to space" come from? Unswervingly following the path of self-reliance and self-improvement is the "winning code" for China's space industry to be fearless of blockades and suppression.

In the early 1990s, in order to seize the strategic commanding heights, the world's major space powers competed to develop manned space flight. At that time, 16 countries including the United States and Russia were planning to jointly build an international space station, but China was not included. In 1992, China's manned space program was officially launched, and China was determined to independently build its own space station.

This is a race with two people at different starting lines. On one side, the United States and Russia have joined forces to launch a total of nine space stations, sending hundreds of astronauts into space and landing on the moon; on the Chinese side, space stations, manned spacecraft, manned rockets, etc. are still on the drawing board, and everything must start from scratch.

Wang Yongzhi, the first chief designer of China's manned space program and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, once said: "If we follow others and go through all the procedures, we will always fall behind." Translated into today's popular saying, "You will never be the first by copying others' homework."

At the beginning, China's manned space program formulated a "three-step" strategy: the first step was to launch a manned spacecraft, build a preliminary supporting experimental manned spacecraft project, and carry out space application experiments; the second step was to make breakthroughs in astronaut extravehicular activity technology and space vehicle rendezvous and docking technology, launch a space laboratory, and solve the problem of short-term manned space applications of a certain scale; the third step was to build a space station to solve the problem of large-scale, long-term manned space applications.

From 1992 to 2002, my country completed four unmanned flight missions, Shenzhou I to IV, in 10 years. It fully verified the functional performance of each system and the coordination and matching of interfaces between systems, improved the research and development test organization and command system and the construction of related basic conditions, and laid a solid foundation for the first manned flight mission.

From 2003 to 2012, my country carried out four manned flights, namely Shenzhou V, VI, VII and IX, as well as the rendezvous and docking mission of Shenzhou VIII and Tiangong-1. It made breakthroughs in key technologies such as round-trip between the earth and the sky, space extravehicular activities, and rendezvous and docking, and in one fell swoop surpassed the development process of developed countries over nearly half a century.

After the successful implementation of the Shenzhou 10 mission in 2013, my country carried out four missions, namely the Long March 7, Tiangong 2, Shenzhou 11 and Tianzhou 1, in less than a year from June 2016 to April 2017. It tested new green, non-toxic and low-pollution rockets, put into use a new launch site that is ecological, environmentally friendly and open, built my country's first real space laboratory, carried out a large number of space science experiments and technical tests, and mastered key technologies such as astronaut mid-term stay, space station cargo transportation, and propellant in-orbit replenishment. The "second step" of the manned space program was successfully completed.

In May 2020, the Long March 5B carrier rocket successfully completed its maiden flight, marking the beginning of the space station phase of the mission. Starting with the successful launch of the Tianhe core module on April 29, 2021, China's manned space program has intensively carried out 11 launches, 3 spacecraft returns, 2 module transfers, and 7 astronaut extravehicular missions within 20 months. 4 flight crews and 12 astronauts have continued to stay in orbit. The astronaut crew has completed the first in-orbit rotation, and has mastered 8 key technologies such as long-term in-orbit stay of astronauts, assembly and construction of space stations, and regenerative environmental control and life support, and the space station was completed on schedule. The whole process was steady and successful, setting a record for the fastest assembly and construction of a space station in the history of world aerospace.

It is not easy to break through this road to space. Only by mastering core technologies can we avoid being "stuck in the neck". Over the past 30 years, the entire project has vigorously promoted the fine tradition of self-reliance and hard work, and has successively mastered a large number of key core technologies with independent intellectual property rights, and explored a number of innovative solutions. According to statistics, China's manned spaceflight has won 2 special prizes and 1 first prize in the National Science and Technology Progress Award, 677 provincial and ministerial science and technology progress awards, and more than 4,000 patents; it has promoted the leapfrog development of the aerospace industry, radiated and driven the rapid development of raw materials, microelectronics, machinery manufacturing, chemical industry, metallurgy, textiles, communications and other fields, and greatly promoted the overall improvement of my country's scientific and technological level.

Today, the Chinese people's "space home" has been built, and China's manned space flight is moving towards a more distant goal. At this achievement exhibition, models of major future manned lunar flight products such as the new generation of manned spacecraft and lunar lander made their debut. We can fully believe that the Chinese people's dream of reaching the moon will become a reality in the near future. (Fu Yifei)

Source: Science and Technology Daily