Why build a launch site on the seashore? Review of the construction of Wenchang Space Launch Site in my country

On the afternoon of October 31, the Mengtian laboratory module was successfully launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Center, my country's only seaside launch site. Do you have such a question in your mind?

Why build a launch site by the sea?

Xichang prepares for Wenchang, the two have such a deep connection

As early as the 1960s, in order to cope with the complex international situation, my country had planned to gradually relocate the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

Where to move? Hainan Island was the most ideal location, but due to the limitations of basic conditions such as safety, transportation, and communications, Qian Xuesen and other older generation aerospace people considered building a launch site in the third-tier region first to accumulate experience and train talents for the development to the south. This is how the Xichang Satellite Launch Center came about.

(Photo source: National Memory)

With the gradual development of China's space industry and the gradual strengthening of national strength, the proposal to build a launch site in Hainan has been put forward again.

(Photo source: National Memory)

But with an area of ​​more than 35,000 square kilometers in Hainan province, where would be the best location for the new launch site?

After considering many aspects, Longlou Town, Wenchang City, which owns Qinglan Port, became the first choice.

(Photo source: National Memory)

In August 2007, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council made a major decision to build a new space launch site in Longlou Town, Wenchang City, Hainan Province, which will be managed by the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

Why is the Wenchang Launch Center indispensable in building a space power ?

Zhou Fengguang, then deputy chief engineer of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center and chief designer of the Wenchang Space Launch Site, said: "As a space power moves towards becoming a space power, building a launch site by the sea is an inevitable trend."

At that time, the country had already begun planning the development of large-thrust rockets in preparation for the subsequent construction of space stations and the launch of heavy satellites to explore celestial bodies in the solar system.

(Photo source: National Memory)

The Wenchang Space Launch Center is located at 19 degrees north latitude and is currently the space launch center with the lowest latitude in China.

Because of the low latitude, rockets can use part of the earth's rotation speed when launching, saving rocket fuel.

In addition, the launch tower of the Wenchang Space Launch Center is only 800 meters away from the sea, which is not only convenient for sea transportation, but also the range of rocket launches facing the sea is wider and the rocket landing area is safer.

(Photo source: Xichang Satellite Launch Center)

With his eyes nearly blind, he and his comrades built a "Tower of Babel"

It took only five years from the start of construction of the Wenchang Space Launch Center in 2009 to its commissioning. In order to complete the construction on time, Zhou Xianghu, who was in charge of the tower work, was at the construction site day and night.

(Photo source: National Memory)

"The surface temperature of the steel bars exceeded 60 degrees Celsius. It was like a wave of heat hitting me. The glaring sunlight hurt my eyes. When pouring concrete,

The water vapor and concrete mixed with cement dust made my eyes tear up."

(Photo source: National Memory)

The island's summer sunlight is glaring during the day, and Zhou Xianghu is exposed to welding arcs for a long time at night. After working all night on a construction site, his retina detached, his left eye became permanently blind, and his right eye's vision dropped to 0.04.

(Photo source: National Memory)

His superiors reassigned Zhou Xianghu's work, but after a simple rest and treatment, Zhou Xianghu insisted on going back to the construction site and stayed there until the launch site was completed.

(Photo source: National Memory)

When the launch tower "embraced" the Long March 5 rocket, Zhou Xianghu came specially to watch, "I can't see it clearly, but I believe it must be very beautiful."

(Photo source: National Memory)

From Xichang to Wenchang, from the Long March site to taking root on the islands, generation after generation of aerospace workers have persevered and never given up.

October 31, 2022, the launch site of the Mengtian Experimental Module

(Photo source: Xichang Satellite Launch Center)

At 15:37 on October 31, the Mengtian laboratory module of China's space station was successfully launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Center. At the intersection of space and ocean, this young launch site set out again and continued to fly into space with the dream of mankind to explore the universe.

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