6 people, 6 cabins, 6 months, 666 my Chinese space station!

With the successful docking of the Shenzhou-15 manned spacecraft and the space station complex, the Chinese space station is now fully loaded with three modules, one cargo spacecraft and two manned spacecraft. The Shenzhou-15 astronauts and the Shenzhou-14 astronauts will soon meet in orbit.

The space station forms a 100-ton complex of six spacecraft in orbit, accommodating six astronauts for six days of in-orbit handover work. This scene makes people shout "666".

Tonight, let us follow Zhou Haocheng from the Chinese space station system designer team to gain a comprehensive understanding of the Chinese space station.

As our home in space, the Chinese space station has a lot in common with our homes on the ground, and is full of people-oriented design thinking. In this video, we will take you into the space station from the perspective of "home". Let's first look at the external environment. The construction of the Chinese space station is like building a villa in space. The T-shaped combination of the core module and two experimental modules is the main body of the house;

The core module node cabin and the tail are parking spaces, sometimes for passenger cars and sometimes for trucks;

The robotic arm is equivalent to a crane used in construction. While assisting in construction, it also helps lift astronauts to work outdoors.

Let's take a look at the internal living and working space. The space station is in a low-Earth orbit 400km above the ground, with a total of 110m³ of space for astronauts to move around. Unlike the common living room, bedroom and other independent functional areas in multi-room apartments on the ground, the space station is a highly integrated spacecraft, and each cabin undertakes the relevant functions of work and life at the same time, truly realizing the needs of working from home.

We can refer to the residential functions of a home and see how these functions are realized.

01

Entrance, cloakroom

Astronauts change into their spacesuits here and open the hatch to carry out extravehicular activities. There are two areas in the space station that undertake this function, namely the node cabin of the core module and the airlock cabin of the space module.

02

bedroom

There are 6 bedrooms in the space station, 3 in the Tianhe core module and 3 in the Wentian experimental module. The bedrooms are equipped with storage areas, air conditioners, lighting, alarm speakers, thermometers and hygrometers, and various handrails to help astronauts stabilize their bodies while floating.

Through the window in the bedroom, astronauts can see the beautiful scenery of the earth and the vastness of the universe. Moreover, the noise here is much lower than that in the workroom.

03

Workshop

One of the most important tasks of astronauts in orbit is to carry out various scientific experiments/tests. The "workroom" is equipped with various advanced facilities such as space centrifuges and microgravity experimental equipment. With the arrival of the two experimental cabins, the "content" of the room has been further enriched.

The core cabin and the sky cabin have a special dining area next to the workroom, which is equipped with a folding dining table, a microwave oven, a hot air heating device, a refrigerator and a water dispenser, as well as a locker for storing food for three people for seven days.

Due to the microgravity environment, the restaurant is not equipped with dining chairs. Astronauts usually take food from the cargo ship once every 7 days. The garbage generated by astronauts' meals can be bagged in the dining area and eventually put into the cargo spacecraft for unified destruction.

04

Infirmary

The space station has a separate area responsible for the medical care of astronauts, which can complete routine examinations such as electrocardiogram, respiration, body temperature, blood pressure, and monitor the functions of various organs.

The "Infirmary" also has emergency treatment methods for symptoms such as cardiac emergencies and limb fractures, and can also provide remote psychological diagnosis and treatment through space-to-ground calls.

In order to alleviate symptoms of long-term life in orbit, such as bone loss, the space station is equipped with gyms in all three modules, allowing astronauts to maintain 1-2 hours of physical exercise every day to keep muscles and blood circulation at normal levels.

These include a space treadmill, a space bicycle, freely usable resistance ropes, and microgravity resistance training devices, allowing astronauts to "do aerobics and lift barbells" in a microgravity environment.

05

bathroom

There is one each in the Tianhe core module and the Wentian experimental module, which are located away from the restaurant and separated by a curtain. They are equipped with urine and feces collection devices and personal hygiene products.

There is also a storage room at the connection between the tail of the core module's main column and the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft, which can be used by astronauts to store items and together with the cargo ship's cabin, complete the storage function to ensure the cleanliness and tidiness of the space station.

This multifunctional space home has full 5G WiFi coverage throughout the cabin, and also includes smart networks and smart homes, so astronauts can call and video chat with their families every day.

Not only that, astronauts have a lot of entertainment activities in space. In addition to entertainment with mobile phones and tablets, they can also receive TV signals from the ground to watch the Spring Festival Gala and the World Cup. During the Chinese New Year, they will also post Spring Festival couplets and guess riddles like us.

Well, this is our space station. We look forward to accommodating more astronauts and payload scientists in the future to conduct space science experiments on the space station and give full play to the functions of the national space laboratory.

Produced by | Science Popularization China

Produced by: Cosmic Speed ​​Science Popularization Association of the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation

Producer｜Computer Network Information Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences