Taking the "Earth" with you on a "wandering" trip is the daily routine of astronauts

Four years ago during the Spring Festival, the movie "The Wandering Earth" was released, which set off a craze that is still fresh in people's memory. The box office of over 4.6 billion yuan came from the shocking and heartfelt sincerity of the movie. Although the movie fantasizes about the future, it allows many people to experience a sense of reality and intimacy.

Among them, the ones who are most deeply touched are probably the astronauts who take rescue and exploration as their mission.

Movie "The Wandering Earth" Screen 1

In the mid-to-late 1950s, the great powers competed for hegemony and powerful enemies surrounded China, threatening its rebirth. In order to safeguard the hard-won peace and seize the opportunity for national rejuvenation, the central government launched an unprecedented grand plan to independently develop missiles and atomic bombs and launch artificial satellites to form effective strategic deterrence capabilities and space access capabilities, thereby driving the improvement of comprehensive national strength and international status.

This plan is known in history as the "Two Bombs and One Satellite."

As the leading force in the development of the missile and rocket industries, the Fifth Academy of the Ministry of National Defense was formally established on October 8, 1956, a day that was later recognized as the founding day of China's space industry .

Just like the combination of soldiers (Liu Peiqiang, Wang Lei, etc.), intellectuals (Lao He, Li Yiyi), and workers (Han Ziang, Liu Qi) in the movie "The Wandering Earth", the Fifth Academy of the Ministry of National Defense, which was born in the People's Army, has brought together battle-hardened PLA soldiers, outstanding scientists, engineers, college students who returned from overseas and trained locally, as well as skilled craftsmen from all over the country, with tens of thousands of people devoted to the creation of the aerospace industry.

The soldiers will bring the People's Army's fine style of strong politics, strict discipline, and hard work into the new team, boost organizational mobilization capabilities, and ensure project execution. At the same time, they will combine military democracy methods such as the "pre-war Zhuge Liang meeting" in the People's Army with the academic democracy of overseas returnees to create an innovative environment.

Whether it is the returned overseas intellectuals represented by Qian Xuesen and the "Four Elders" of aerospace or the "domestic" intellectuals represented by Xie Guangxuan, they all have a strategic vision that points directly to the international forefront and a deep understanding of the reality and development potential of domestic science and technology industry, so as to formulate the most suitable technical route and implement it.

Xie Guangxuan and others discussed the DF-2 missile program, and skilled craftsmen from all walks of life were responsible for putting the scientists' designs into practice. They were both faithful executors of the design and brave creators of technological innovation.

In a critical situation, this is the most scientific combination to ensure that a huge system project can proceed at full speed.

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In the movie, planetary engines are the key to traveling around the earth; in the "two bombs and one satellite", missile/rocket engines are also of paramount importance.

If the engine technology is not mastered and the plan is not finalized, the overall plan for missiles and rockets cannot be determined, and the nodes for strategic deterrence and space entry capabilities will be delayed. This is the so-called **"power first"**.

The real rocket engine of the missile engine is even more "cyberpunk" than the planetary engine in the movie. The winding pipelines and densely packed injectors make people feel intensive fear. It is conceivable how difficult it is to master its technology and independently develop new models within a few years.

When designing the DF-2 missile engine, although there were Soviet products as a reference, they still encountered difficulties in welding technology. Zhou Wansheng, an expert from the Materials Research Laboratory of the First Branch of the Fifth Academy of the Ministry of National Defense (now the 703 Institute of the First Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation), successfully solved the problem by improving the welding technology, achieving an innovation in engine manufacturing technology.

When independently developing a new engine for the DF-3 medium-range missile, the aerospace workers who had completely shaken off the foreign help encountered countless obstacles. The most difficult one was the high-frequency unstable combustion problem of the engine.

High-frequency unstable combustion can cause mechanical damage or melting and burning of the engine combustion chamber. Qian Xuesen called high-frequency unstable combustion a "devil" and encouraged everyone to conquer this devil!

Therefore, Ren Xinmin, deputy director of the First Academy and director of the Liquid Engine Research Institute (now the 11th Institute of the Sixth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation), led young people such as Ma Zuoxin and Zhang Guitian to be responsible for design research, Zhou Wansheng and others to be responsible for material process technology research, and outstanding workers represented by welding skills master Chen Jifeng from the 211 Factory of the First Academy to be responsible for product manufacturing. A battle to "subdue demons and eliminate evil" began.

At that time, most of the designers in the Fifth Academy of the Ministry of National Defense had military status. Among them, Ma Zuoxin participated in the revolution during the Anti-Japanese War and studied in the Soviet Union. This was a typical "three-in-one" team.

Based on the same type of engine, the first-stage four-engine parallel engine of the Dongfeng-3 medium-range missile, the Dongfeng-4 medium- and long-range missile, and the Long March-1 carrier rocket (left) and the second-stage high-altitude engine of the latter two (right) were developed respectively, in order to control the engineering cycle, cost and quality. Groping in the dark, it is inevitable to run into a wall. One engine after another was sent to the test bench, and ended in burn-through or even deflagration. But this team never backed down, and there was really no way out. In the sprint stage of development, Chen Jifeng and other welding workers created a miracle of completing the welding task of 25 engines in 25 days overnight; the workers in the engine assembly workshop of Factory 211 also raced against time, disassembling the engines after the test run under simple protective conditions to help scientific researchers analyze the causes...

After comparing several plans and conducting hundreds of test runs, the plan using partitions and liquid phase partitions was finally determined. When the engine ejected a strong and stable flame, the team that had cleared the clouds and saw the sun was boiling, and the cheers merged with the roar of the engine, echoing in the valley for a long time. Qian Xuesen said with satisfaction: "Today marks the entry of China's large rocket engines into the kingdom of freedom!"

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On October 27, 1966, the hot test of the Dongfeng-2A nuclear missile was successful. The combination of the two missiles brought China into the era of deterrence. In December of the same year, the Dongfeng-3 medium-range missile, which used a new engine and storable fuel, made its first successful flight.

Hot test of the "two bombs combined" In January 1970, the flight test of the Dongfeng-4 medium- and long-range missile developed on the basis of the Dongfeng-3 medium-range missile was successful, marking that China has broken through key technologies such as multi-stage rockets; on April 24, the Long March-1 carrier rocket developed based on the Dongfeng-4 missile successfully completed its maiden flight, sending the Dongfanghong-1 satellite into space, and China entered the space age.

In September 1971, the more powerful Dongfeng-5 intercontinental missile made its maiden flight successfully. One and a half months later, the legitimate seat of New China in the United Nations was restored . Immediately afterwards, Western powers lifted their blockade against China and established diplomatic relations with China, laying the foundation for China's equal integration into the world market.

A handshake across the ocean: Chinese astronauts and military workers have used their own hands to completely push their motherland away from the "Roche limit" of falling into war, and sent it on a journey of peace and prosperity.

The rise of China as a strategic force also had an important impact on balancing the bipolar hegemony at the time and played an important role in maintaining world peace.

There has never been a savior, nor do we rely on gods or emperors. To create happiness, we can only rely on ourselves. When we see the rescue team in the movie "The Wandering Earth" fighting desperately in their respective positions, and see Li Yiyi struggling to press the "ignition" button, we also see ourselves.

Astronauts are ordinary people too, but they take on an extraordinary mission to protect everything we cherish.

It’s not that we prefer grand narratives, but what we do is grand in nature. (Author: Gao Yiming)