The Shenzhou 13 astronauts made their first public appearance after returning from space! Review of the "highlight moments"

The Shenzhou 13 astronaut crew officially met with the media and the public at the Beijing Space City on the afternoon of the 28th. This was their first public appearance 74 days after returning from space.

On June 28, Shenzhou 13 astronauts Ye Guangfu (second from left), Zhai Zhigang (second from right), and Wang Yaping (first from right) saluted. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Guo Zhongzheng

At present, the crew of Shenzhou 13 is actively recovering. They said that they are dedicated to flying into space and will devote their whole lives to it, and will strive to start preparation training as soon as possible, and always be ready to conquer space again for the motherland and the people.

From October 16, 2021 to April 16, 2022, during the six-month Shenzhou XIII manned flight mission, astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping, and Ye Guangfu set a new record for the longest continuous in-orbit flight time for Chinese astronauts, and successfully completed a series of innovative and groundbreaking scientific experiments and space application missions in a "feeling good" state. During this period, they experienced too many "highlight moments", and today let us review them together.

Going out

At 21:40 on October 15, 2021, the departure ceremony for the astronaut crew of the Shenzhou 13 manned flight mission was held at the Wentian Pavilion Square of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Three astronauts, Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu, received the orders to set off.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Gang

emission

At 0:23 on October 16, 2021, the Shenzhou 13 manned spacecraft was successfully launched. Three astronauts, Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu, successfully entered space.

Image source: China Manned Spaceflight

Settlement

At 9:58 am on October 16, 2021, astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu successively entered the Tianhe core module, and the Chinese space station also welcomed its second flight crew and its first female astronaut.

Image source: China Manned Spaceflight

Pickup

At 9:50 am on October 17, 2021, the Shenzhou 13 astronaut crew successfully opened the cargo bay door and smoothly entered the Tianzhou 3 cargo spacecraft to carry out material transfer and other related work.

GIF source: CCTV.com

Exit

At 1:16 a.m. on November 8, 2021, the Shenzhou XIII crew successfully completed all the scheduled tasks of the first extravehicular activity. Zhai Zhigang, China's first extravehicular astronaut, went out of the cabin again. After 13 years, the classic and familiar "feeling good" is still synonymous with a smooth extravehicular activity; Wang Yaping became China's first female astronaut to conduct an extravehicular activity, taking the first step of a Chinese woman's extravehicular spacewalk.

Image source: China Manned Spaceflight

Science and education activities

At 15:40 on December 9, 2021, the first class of "Tiangong Classroom" officially started. The Shenzhou 13 astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping, and Ye Guangfu brought a wonderful space science class to the young people. The class introduced and displayed the work and life scenes of the space station, demonstrated the magical phenomena of cytology experiments, human body movement, liquid surface tension in a microgravity environment, and explained the scientific principles behind the experiments.

Image source: China Manned Spaceflight

At 15:44 on March 23, 2022, the second lesson of the "Tiangong Classroom" began. "Space teachers" Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping, and Ye Guangfu gave space lectures on the Chinese space station, demonstrating space "ice and snow" experiments, liquid bridge demonstration experiments, water-oil separation experiments, and space parabolic experiments.

Image source: China Manned Spaceflight

On the afternoon of January 1, 2022, the "New Year's Day Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Tiangong Dialogue" event was successfully held. The Shenzhou 13 crew and about 500 young students from Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao held a unique and meaningful interactive exchange activity on the first day of the new year, talking about the "space dream" and looking forward to the future together.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jin Liangkuai

Completed a number of space science experiments and aerospace medicine experiments

During the astronauts' stay in orbit, they completed 9 human factors engineering technology experiments, 26 experiments in three categories in the field of aerospace medicine and 2 experiments in the field of space applications. They carried out space science research and application focusing on containerless materials and high microgravity experiments, and successfully completed a number of pure metal and multi-element alloy material experiments. The sample suspension control accuracy was better than 0.1mm, and the melting temperature reached above 2000°C. For the first time, a high microgravity environment of the order of 10-7g was achieved, reaching the international advanced level.

Image source: China Manned Spaceflight

Go out again

At 00:55 on December 27, 2021, after about 6 hours, the Shenzhou 13 astronaut crew successfully completed all the scheduled tasks of the second extravehicular activity. Astronaut Zhai Zhigang and astronaut Ye Guangfu returned safely to the Tianhe core module, and the extravehicular activity was a complete success.

Image source: China Manned Spaceflight

Celebrating the festival on track

On January 1, 2022, the Shenzhou 13 crew celebrated the New Year in orbit. This was the first time that Chinese people welcomed the New Year in space. The astronauts celebrated the New Year in orbit with a pose. Since the Shenzhou 13 crew stayed in orbit for half a year, the astronauts also welcomed the arrival of the Spring Festival in space.

Image source: China Manned Spaceflight

Manual remote-controlled cargo spacecraft

At 7:55 on January 8, 2022, after about 2 hours, the Shenzhou 13 astronaut crew, in close coordination with ground technical personnel, successfully completed the rendezvous and docking test between the Tianzhou 2 cargo spacecraft and the space station assembly by manual remote control in the core module of the space station. This test was the first time that astronauts used manual remote control equipment in orbit to control the rendezvous and docking of the cargo spacecraft with the space station, and preliminarily verified the functions and performance of the manual remote control system of the space station and the visiting spacecraft, as well as the rationality of the collaborative working procedures between the ground and the earth.

Image source: China Manned Spaceflight

Successful landing

At 09:56 on April 16, 2022, the return capsule of the Shenzhou XIII manned spacecraft successfully landed at the Dongfeng landing site, and the Shenzhou XIII manned flight mission was a complete success. This return was also the first time that the rapid return process was implemented. By reasonably cutting and adjusting the flight mission events and compressing the operation time, the time required for return was shortened from the previous 11 flight circles to 5 flight circles.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Peng Yuan

In the future, let us look forward to more wonderful performances from Chinese astronauts!

Comprehensive sources: Xinhua News Agency, China Manned Spaceflight, etc.