The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 1120 Manned Spaceflight
"Hello, Chief!"

At the space center, 21 astronauts lined up, greeted Liu Tao, and saluted him together.

These 21 astronauts all belong to the Astronaut Corps, and they will be the backbone of China's manned space flight.

Looking at the 21 astronauts of different ages, Liu Tao saluted them in return.

Each of the 21 astronauts wore a golden aerospace logo with the symbol of the earth inlaid on it.

Liu Tao knew that these 21 astronauts were not from the same batch, but were selected in two batches.

The seven astronauts selected in the second batch are all very young, and there are even two female astronauts. They all have a bachelor's degree and are either still college students or have just graduated.

Under the introduction of the director of the space center, Liu Tao got to know these astronauts one by one and shook hands with them.

Sometimes you have to admit that luck does exist!

Each of these astronauts is one in a million and is an outstanding individual, both in terms of physical and mental qualities!
The astronaut who will carry out the first manned space flight on the Shenzhou V spacecraft is Yang Liwei, 38 years old this year. He was admitted to the Eighth Flight Academy of the Air Force in 1983, graduated from the Air Force Aviation University in 1987, and was then assigned to the Air Force Fighter Aviation Corps as a pilot. Later, the Manned Space Engineering Command selected reserve astronauts from the active pilots of the Air Force. He achieved excellent results in clinical medicine, aerospace physiological function indicators, and psychological quality tests, and became one of the first astronauts.

Now, Yang Liwei has been evaluated by the Astronaut Selection Committee of the Manned Space Engineering Program and is capable of independently carrying out space flight. He has been granted the third-level astronaut qualification and will carry out this manned space mission.

After meeting the astronauts, Liu Tao set off with them and arrived at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan Province on a special plane.

The Wenchang Space Launch Center is located in Longlou Town, Wenchang City, Hainan Province. It is affiliated to the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. It is China's first open coastal space launch base and one of the few low-latitude launch sites in the world.

The launch site can launch the Long March 5 series rockets, the Long March 7 carrier rocket, and the Long March 8 carrier rocket. It is mainly responsible for launching spacecraft such as geosynchronous orbit satellites, large-mass polar-orbit satellites, large-tonnage space stations and deep space exploration satellites.

As a low-latitude coastal launch base, the Wenchang Space Launch Center can not only be used to meet the needs of China's aerospace development, but also use the larger linear speed close to the equator and the centrifugal phenomenon caused by inertia to greatly reduce rocket fuel consumption (the carrying capacity of the same type of rocket can be increased by 10%). It can also solve the problem of giant rocket transportation through sea transportation and improve the safety of debris tracking.

The entire Wenchang Launch Site is composed of five major systems: test launch, measurement and control, communications, meteorology, and technical service support.

At this time, a carrier rocket was standing at the launch site, and on the carrier rocket was the "Shenzhou V" spacecraft.

Liu Tao specially boarded the Shenzhou V spacecraft and carefully inspected the carrier spacecraft.

In the 90s, the "experimental spacecraft" carried out a total of ten space missions, conducting a series of experiments and then continuously improving them. After entering the millennium, the "Shenzhou" spacecraft also carried out four unmanned space missions, each time carrying animals for testing.

And now, the 'Shenzhou V' spacecraft will carry out manned space flight.

Manned space flight is a round-trip flight activity in which humans drive and ride manned spacecraft in space to conduct various exploration, research, testing, production and military applications. Its purpose is to break through the barrier of the earth's atmosphere and overcome the earth's gravity, expand the scope of human activities from land, ocean and atmosphere to space, understand the entire universe more widely and deeply, and make full use of the special environment of space and manned spacecraft to carry out various research and experimental activities and develop the extremely rich resources of space.

Manned space flight technology has always been one of the world's top technologies. At present, only the United States and the Soviet Union have achieved manned space flight, and in terms of manned space flight technology, the United States and the Soviet Union are far ahead of the world.

As a manned spacecraft, Shenzhou V cannot have any problems, because even a small detail may lead to the failure of the space mission and put the astronauts' lives in danger.

After the inspection, check the launch vehicle.

此次采用的是长征二号F改进型，该火箭起飞质量约497吨，发射载人飞船型号和发射目标飞行器或空间实验室的型号（无逃逸塔）的整流罩直径分别为3.8米和4.2米，火箭全长分别为58.34米和52米，可以把8.8吨的有效载荷送入近地点200千米、远地点350千米、倾角42°的地球近地轨道。

This type of carrier rocket is specially used to launch the Shenzhou spacecraft. It has carried out 14 launches before this time and all of them have successfully completed the launch missions.

Three days later.

The Shenzhou V's manned space mission attracted much attention and was jointly broadcast live by CCTV and Hong Kong Satellite TV.

At 5:20, the astronauts' departure ceremony was held in Wentian Pavilion, the astronauts' apartment. Then at 5:30, the astronauts in space suits reported to the commander-in-chief of China's manned space program and asked for permission to go on the expedition.

At 6:15, Yang Liwei sat on a special seat made of special materials after entering the return capsule of the spacecraft. According to the plan, there were still 2 hours and 45 minutes before the rocket took off. Before takeoff, the astronauts made various preparations in the cabin and needed to complete more than 100 actions. The screen of the ground command and control center showed that the astronauts' physiological parameters were normal.

All observation stations, observation ships, etc. are ready.

At 8:59:50, the spacecraft took off and entered a 10-second countdown.

At exactly 9 o'clock, the rocket took off into the air with a deafening roar and flew rapidly into space.

At 9:10, the spacecraft entered the planned orbit. From that moment on, Yang Liwei became the first Chinese visitor to the vast space.

Liu Tao looked at the big screen of the Space Command Center, gazing intently at the fearless astronaut. As the first Chinese astronaut to enter space, this required great courage, because the slightest deviation could mean death, even death in space.

But he still embarked on the space journey.

Looking at the other astronauts, there was no fear or frustration in their eyes, only expectation. Liu Tao knew that China's manned space program would get better and better. It wouldn't be long before these brave astronauts would cooperate with aerospace engineers to build a space station belonging to China.

Nothing can stop China's space dream!
No one can!

It won’t be long before China will not only send batches of astronauts into space, but also build a space station belonging to China and also send people to the moon!
From this moment on, China's aerospace industry will enter a fast lane of development.

(End of this chapter)