Chasing dreams and asking the sky: Revelations from China's 30 years of manned space flight

On February 24, the "Dreaming of the Universe - Exhibition of Thirty Years of Achievements in China's Manned Space Program" was officially launched at the National Museum of China. A grand picture of the achievements of China's manned space program in the past thirty years was slowly unfolded before 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 drawing up dreams to striving to realize them, generations of Chinese astronauts spent a full 30 years completing the "three-step" strategic task and building the independently built and operated "Tiangong" space station. This has added another milestone in the journey of building a space power and climbing to the pinnacle of science and technology, and has written a magnificent chapter in the vast universe of using the space dream to support the Chinese dream.

In the process of continuous climbing, Chinese astronauts feel more and more strongly that the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation will not be achieved easily or with fanfare, and no one will easily give up the strategic commanding heights they have obtained.

If you want to overtake others, you must first be confident and strong. For this reason, Chinese astronauts have completely abandoned their illusions since the beginning, unswervingly followed the path of independent development, and blazed a path to space with Chinese characteristics.

Maintain stability and formulate a "Chinese solution" that suits national conditions

In the early 1990s, in that turbulent and unexpected era, the international landscape underwent profound changes. In order to seize the strategic commanding heights, the world's major aerospace powers competed to develop manned space flight. The United States and 16 other countries planned to jointly build an international space station, but did not include China.

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 the Soviet Union have launched nine space stations, sent hundreds of astronauts into space, and landed on the moon; on the Chinese side, space stations, manned spacecraft, manned rockets, etc. are still on the drawing board.

Academician Wang Yongzhi, the first chief designer of China's manned space program, once said: "If we follow others and go through all the procedures, we will always fall behind."

Indeed, the beginning determines the future. To develop manned space flight, we must first solve the starting point problem: should we choose manned spacecraft or space shuttle? This is related to the direction of subsequent development.

Initially, they were planning to develop spacecraft. But in the 1980s, the international space shuttle entered its "golden age". In 1981, the US "Columbia" made its first successful flight, and in 1988, the Soviet "Buran" entered space. Japan and Europe were also stepping up their research and development.

Seeing the world's space powers rushing over, many domestic experts could not sit still and turned to support the space shuttle, believing that the spacecraft is disposable, has a limited carrying capacity, and has entered a "decline period"; while the space shuttle can be launched repeatedly, has a large carrying capacity, has obvious advantages, and represents the trend of international space development. However, some experts firmly support manned spacecraft, believing that the space shuttle is very expensive to manufacture and maintain, and China did not have the production process conditions at that time; while the spacecraft can carry both people and cargo, and can also be used as an orbital lifeboat for the space station, and the freight cost is lower, which is more in line with China's national conditions.

Historical experience has proven that "taking what is available" cannot solve China's problems. In other words, you can only know if a pair of shoes fits you by trying them yourself. After repeated research and discussion, everyone realized that the dispute over the starting point of manned space flight was not only about the advantages and disadvantages of the two spacecraft themselves, but also about the differences in national economic and technological strength. In the end, it was decided to abandon the space shuttle plan and go with the manned spacecraft plan based on national conditions.

Many years later, the US space shuttles "Challenger" and "Columbia" crashed one after another, and the space shuttle soon became an "international outcast". The United States was once in a dilemma of having no means of transportation and had to "borrow" spacecraft from Russia to go into space.

This also indirectly proves that it was wise for our country to insist on starting from national conditions and not blindly follow the trend!

Only after the starting point was set did the "three-step" strategy of manned space engineering come into being: 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 space applications with a certain scale and short-term manned operation; the third step was to build a space station to solve the problem of large-scale, long-term manned space applications.

Over the past 30 years, the entire project has always adhered to the principle of seeking truth from facts, maintained strategic determination, and always "drew a blueprint to the end", and made solid progress towards the goal of building a space station.

Keeping steady and making progress, we will achieve the "Chinese speed" that will shock the world

Looking back at the past 30 years of China's manned space program, a distinctive feature is steady progress and accelerating steadily: the first 20 years were spent laying a solid foundation, and the last ten years were spent accelerating the sprint.

From 1992 to 2002, during this decade, four unmanned flight missions, Shenzhou I to IV, were completed, which fully verified the functional performance of each system and the coordination and matching of the 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 execution of the first manned flight mission.

From 2003 to 2012, it took nearly ten years to carry out four manned flights, Shenzhou V, VI, VII and IX, as well as the rendezvous and docking mission of Shenzhou VIII and Tiangong-1. It broke through and mastered key technologies such as round-trip between the earth and the sky, space extravehicular activities, and rendezvous and docking, leapfrogging nearly half a century of development in developed countries in one fell swoop.

The journey is long and the only way forward is struggle. Entering the new era, the Chinese astronauts with lofty ambitions did not rest on their laurels. Instead, they set sail for national rejuvenation and marched into space.

From June 2016 to April 2017, in less than a year, we intensively carried out four missions, namely the Long March 7, Tiangong-2, Shenzhou 11 and Tianzhou-1 missions. We evaluated new green, non-toxic and low-pollution rockets, put into use a new ecological, environmentally friendly and open launch site, built my country's first true space laboratory, carried out a large number of space science experiments and technical tests, and mastered key technologies such as the mid-term stay of astronauts, cargo transportation to the space station, and in-orbit propellant replenishment. The "second step" of the project was successfully completed!

In May 2020, the Long March 5B carrier rocket made its maiden flight, marking the beginning of the space station phase of the mission. On April 29, 2021, the Tianhe core module was successfully launched. "This is just the first step in a long journey." While everyone was excited, Yang Hong, chief designer of the space station system, remained calm. "The core module will undergo multiple key technical verifications in orbit, and will then undergo on-orbit evaluation before it can be assembled and constructed. After assembly and construction are completed, it will have a long lifespan of 10 years, and will have to operate in orbit for a longer period of time through repairs, maintenance, and life extension by astronauts. There is still a long way to go."

It is with this clarity that every step of China's manned space program has been extremely solid - from the launch of the Tianhe core module to the return of Shenzhou XIV, in 20 months, 11 launches, 3 spacecraft returns, 2 module transfers, 7 astronaut extravehicular activities were intensively carried out, 4 flight crews with 12 astronauts continued to stay in orbit, the astronaut crew completed the in-orbit rotation for the first time, and broke through and mastered 8 key technologies, including long-term in-orbit stay of astronauts, assembly and construction of the space station, and regenerative environmental control and life support.

The space station was completed as scheduled! The entire process was steady and perfect, creating the fastest space station assembly and construction record in the history of world aerospace, and running at the "acceleration" of China's aerospace industry on the new journey of exploring the vast universe.

Adhering to the right path and innovating to show the unique "Chinese wisdom"

Practice has repeatedly proved that key core technologies cannot be obtained, bought or begged for.

In 1995, Zhang Chongfeng, technical director of docking mechanism of the Eighth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, visited a foreign research and development unit. "All docking mechanisms in the world are produced here," the foreign expert said directly. The development of docking mechanisms is very difficult, so it is better to buy their products directly. However, the fees quoted are astronomical, and the design patent fee alone is as high as 100 million US dollars. Zhang Chongfeng secretly made up his mind: "We must develop a docking mechanism that belongs to the Chinese people!"

Without the bitter cold, how can the fragrance of plum blossoms be so fragrant? After 16 years of hard work, at 1:29 a.m. on November 3, 2011, after nearly 43 hours of flight and five orbit changes, Shenzhou 8 successfully docked with Tiangong 1, making my country the third country in the world to independently master the rendezvous and docking technology.

Veteran aerospace professionals say that there can be no falsehood in aerospace, and only by mastering core technologies can one avoid being "choked". The entire project vigorously promotes 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.

Explore innovative solutions such as the "three vertical and one long" test launch, "N+1" space station rendezvous and docking technology verification, and the direct orbital entry of a one-and-a-half-stage configuration rocket;

We have independently developed eight types of aircraft and three types of rockets, and our cargo spacecraft has the highest cargo-to-weight ratio in the world;

Independently developed the "Feitian" extravehicular space suit, allowing Chinese astronauts to walk in space wearing the "Feitian suit" made by the Chinese themselves...

According to statistics, over the past 30 years, manned space flight has won two special prizes and one first prize in the National Science and Technology Progress Awards, 677 provincial and ministerial science and technology progress awards, and more than 4,000 patents.

Leading a "million-dollar army" requires scientific top-level design and efficient organizational leadership. Zhou Jianping, chief designer of the manned space program, said: "It is unimaginable to implement such a grand project without the centralized leadership of the Party Central Committee and the nationwide cooperation."

The project attaches great importance to management innovation, and integrates the overall design department's ideas throughout the entire process of research and development and construction, establishing a matrix organizational management system that covers all aspects horizontally and vertically.

At the top level, relevant state departments jointly established a special leading group and set up the China Manned Space Engineering Office in 1993.

Throughout the project, we continuously optimized the "two lines" of management and technology. While strengthening unified management, we selected the chief designer and deputy chief designer for the entire system, and selected strong teams of commander-in-chief and chief designer for the overall project and major systems, and established a joint meeting system of "two generals"; during the mission, we established a general mission command, and related systems jointly established the launch site, measurement and control communication, and landing site command; in response to the new situation and characteristics of the space station stage, we established a space station operation and management committee to build a space station operation and management system with Chinese characteristics.

Over the past 30 years, technological innovation and management innovation have complemented each other like the "two wings of a bird" and the "two wheels of a car", injecting inexhaustible impetus into the development of engineering construction.

Openness and self-confidence come from the "Chinese confidence" accumulated over a long period of time

In May 2020, after the successful maiden flight of the Long March 5B carrier rocket, the China Manned Space Engineering Office announced that China's space station will be completed around 2022.

The news quickly attracted attention. At that time, when a space station module had not yet been launched, such a confident announcement of a "timetable" did not seem to be in line with China's consistent rigorous and prudent publicity style for manned space flight. This was just the beginning.

At a later press conference, the authorities announced six mission plans for the whole year at one time; before major missions, the launch window was announced to the minute; for the re-entry of rocket debris that had been "secret" in the past, the official website regularly announced orbital information; physical models of the space station appeared in various large-scale exhibitions... These slight changes in publicity and reports made the outside world feel that "China's space industry is becoming more and more open and confident."

The reason why we dare to say it is that we can do it. China's manned space program has always been a company that keeps its word and acts accordingly. It has the confidence, strength and self-confidence.

This confidence comes from the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee, which always gives aerospace personnel political care and great spiritual encouragement, and strengthens their confidence in victory.

This confidence comes from the institutional advantages of the new national system, which can mobilize sufficient resources and strength to focus on tackling key problems in a short period of time;

This confidence comes from the material, technological and industrial foundation accumulated by the country since the reform and opening up, which can provide a strong backing for the "dumpling-like" launch speed;

This confidence comes from the advanced scientific research and experimental conditions and mature major engineering organization and management system, breakthroughs in mastering a large number of key core technologies, and the ability to coordinate and handle various tasks with ease;

This confidence comes from having a team of talented people with an average age of only over 30 years old, with a reasonable level of staffing, who can be deployed and win at critical moments;

This self-confidence comes from the courage, backbone and confidence that Chinese astronauts have gained in the face of various tests over the years, and they are able to always ignore other people's opinions, not be affected by external interference, not be afraid of risks and challenges, and focus on doing their own work.

After 30 years of accumulation and development, China's manned space program has firmly grasped its own destiny and has achieved fruitful results. We can fully believe that with the continued efforts of generations of astronauts, China's manned space program will surely move forward steadily and have a promising future!