Can you see the Great Wall from space?
"Can't see" Yang Liwei replied without thinking.
This was a conversation between a reporter and the first Chinese person in space after Shenzhou 5 returned to the ground.
However, in this era when Shenzhou-1 has not yet ascended to heaven, many people still believe the rumor that the Great Wall can be seen in space.
"How are the preparations for the Shenzhou-1 rocket?" Zhang Jianguo asked Zhang Xingyang seriously.
Zhang Xingyang rubbed his aching forehead: "We are ready and can start launching at any time."
The preparation work required before the launch of Shenzhou-1 is more than one order of magnitude more complicated than that of ordinary launch vehicles.
Zhang Xingyang has been coordinating various tasks almost day and night during this period.
Including but not limited to, equipment inspection, scientific research instrument testing, ground station testing coordination, etc.
"You have all worked hard during this period."
Although Zhang Jianguo is a serious person, he is not an unkind person.
"When this launch mission is over, you all should rest for a few more days!"
After rubbing his face vigorously, he felt much more awake. Zhang Xingyang said:
"Let's talk about this after the Shenzhou-1 mission is successful!"
"It's too early to say that."
If the Shenzhou-1 launch is successful, there may be a few days of rest, but if the launch fails, there will be basically no rest.
Although the launch mission of Shenzhou-1 was very successful in history, the long 2F rocket was used at that time.
What is being used now is the Hongyan rocket, which has never appeared in history.
The face of history has been changed beyond recognition by Zhang Xingyang. Even he now dares not to slander the direction of historical development.
The Shenzhou-1 launch site is located at the Jiuquan Launch Center.
Basically all domestic manned-related space launch missions are carried out here.
The height of the Hongyan prototype rocket is 70 meters, which is already a behemoth compared to domestic rockets in this era.
The Hongyan-1 rocket, which was improved for manned projects, has a height of 75 meters due to the addition of an escape tower!
The original launch pads at the Dongfeng Launch Site can no longer accommodate such a big guy!
"The launch pad at the Dongfeng Launch Site is still a bit small."
Zhang Xingyang said to Zhang Jianguo next to him:
"In the future, our heavy-lift rockets will take our astronauts to the moon."
"It's difficult for such a launcher to support such a huge rocket!"
The launch tower of Dongfeng Launch Site is indeed a little smaller.
This is also because when building this launch site, it was not considered that the size of subsequent rockets would generally develop in the direction of giant size.
"The new launch site is already under planning and construction."
"At the very least, it will not delay the development of manned spaceflight."
As the person in charge of the entire manned project, Zhang Jianguo knew more than Zhang Xingyang. There was no need to keep these things secret from Zhang Xingyang, so he spoke out very simply.
"They should be installing dummies now, right?"
Zhang Xingyang looked at the launch tower in the distance. Although he couldn't see the ant-sized people on it clearly, he could still guess where the preparations were now.
Zhang Jianguo looked at the watch on his wrist and said, "According to the preset timetable, the arrangements should have been completed by now."
The dummy of Shenzhou-1 can basically be regarded as a large human doll, but it is equipped with many detection devices.
It is used to monitor various problems that may be encountered during the entire manned flight.
Although it was just a dummy, everyone still let him wear a specially developed space suit.
A long time ago, Zhang Xingyang drew a design drawing of a space suit for a team specializing in space suit research and development.
Although the drawings were not very detailed at the time, Zhang Xingyang still assisted them with a lot of design concepts and various technologies during the subsequent research and development process.
From this, this first-generation space suit was born, which looks more like a mecha to the outside world than a space suit!
After the first experimental space suit was produced, there was discussion about whether it could be equipped for individual soldiers.
To enhance the combat effectiveness of the elite troops, especially the special forces.
However, after Zhang Xingyang gave them a quotation for a space suit, no one wanted to discuss this issue.
The cost price of a first-generation space suit reaches 25 million!
This still only calculates the cost of various materials, and does not include various technical costs and the hard work of researchers.
Such a space suit with a price comparable to that of a new generation main battle tank is far beyond the imagination of the military.
In the end, they could only look at their meager military expenditure and sigh in silence.
"Do you really think there's no problem with the space suit on the dummy?"
Zhang Jianguo remembered the sci-fi space suit he had seen on the dummy before.
I still feel like this thing doesn’t look particularly reliable.
"Of course there is no problem." Zhang Xingyang was very confident that he had almost intervened in more than half of the space suits.
"During the ground testing, we tested various functions of the space suit."
"Whether it is air tightness, communication performance, respiratory and circulatory system or emergency survival system, there are no problems."
Speaking of this emergency survival system, Zhang Jianguo remembered a scene he had seen before, and the corners of his mouth twitched:
"Your emergency survival system is a bit exaggerated."
"I didn't know I saw it and thought the astronauts were going to the battlefield!!"
Generally speaking, the emergency survival system includes some emergency food, water, etc., plus at most a small-caliber pistol for survival purposes.
But the emergency survival system developed by Zhang Xingyang and others makes it hard not to suspect that they want astronauts to survive on the battlefield.
The normal food and water are fine, but the weapon system is too outrageous!
A 30 mm caliber armor-piercing grenade and two 12 mm caliber miniguns. Although the ammunition reserve is not much, it is enough to fight an ordinary infantry squad!
In addition, in an emergency, the high-energy battery and solid oxidizer on the back can be removed and used as a high-explosive bomb.
Not to mention accidentally landing in a primitive jungle, even if they landed on the battlefield, Zhang Jianguo felt that his astronauts could fight their way out with these!
"These are all necessary!"
Zhang Xingyang answered confidently.
"I really can't see what kind of situation would require our astronauts to use 30mm armor-piercing grenades."
Zhang Jianguo himself was a soldier, and he had a clear understanding of the power of weapons.
"The main purpose is to prevent encounters with large and aggressive wild animals like elephants and black bears."
When Zhang Xingyang talked about these animals, he didn't have any consciousness of protecting animals.
Compared with these wild animals, the value of astronauts is much higher.
"Under such circumstances, it is not easy for automatic machine guns to kill them quickly!"
In fact, when the space suit was designed, this emergency survival system was not specially prepared for astronauts.
The scene where this set of things should appear is actually on a nuclear war battlefield.
Whether it is a space suit shielding layer that can shield cosmic rays, or a respiratory and circulatory system, or an emergency survival system, the design indicators should be slightly adjusted.
It can become the combat armor of the vanguards who launch a surprise attack on the enemy after a nuclear explosion.
"I guess you have a point." Zhang Jianguo finally forced himself to accept Zhang Xingyang's slightly crooked truth.
In fact, he didn't mind that the astronauts brought too many weapons. If there were no restrictions on carrying capacity, he wouldn't mind even if they brought a cannon up.
The main concern is that this will increase the pressure on the rocket's carrying capacity.
However, since Zhang Xingyang, who is the person in charge of the launch vehicle section, is not worried, then Zhang Jianguo is not so worried.
"It seems that the preparations are almost completed." Zhang Xingyang said.
The corridor leading to the rocket on the launch tower began to slowly withdraw.
Engineers near the rocket also began to slowly withdraw from the launch tower.
Only the fuel filling work is still being carried out in an orderly manner.
The two returned to the control center, and Zhang Xingyang, the person in charge of the rocket launch section, began his preparations.
As for Zhang Jianguo, he got on the helicopter and prepared to return to the flight control center in Beidu.
The heart of the entire manned spaceflight work is still in the flight control center, where all data from all over the world will be gathered.
The launch window is at one o'clock in the morning.
Everyone in the launch site control center, while doing preparations before the launch, almost immediately looked up to see the time that kept beating on the big screen.
At the last moment, when all the work at hand is completed.
All everyone can do is wait for the final countdown.
When the countdown was less than an hour, the two huge mechanical arms of the launch tower slowly released.
As the launch time gets closer, countless people in the launch site control center, Beidu Flight Control Center, monitoring stations around the world, and the monitoring ship inevitably become nervous.
"Countdown, ten!"
"Nine!"
"eight!"
"three!"
"two!"
"one!"
"emission!"
Zhang Xingyang pressed the button that symbolized the first step in domestic manned spaceflight.
The 1,210-ton propulsion system of the Hongyan rocket explodes with unimaginable power.
Shoot the rocket carrying the Chinese people’s dream of flying into the sky!
"Dongfeng Shuangcheng, optical tracking is normal!"
After the rocket took off, the flight trajectory was very good, almost no different from what was planned before.
"Qingdao, radar tracking is normal!"
When it reached Qingdao, the first-stage rocket began to separate.
"The first stage rocket separated successfully!"
"The second-stage rocket ignited successfully!"
At this time, the rocket is not very far from the planned orbital height.
Generally speaking, the height of space where people are active is in the low orbit area of the earth, which is the range below one thousand kilometers.
However, due to the high latitude of the launch site, the second-stage rocket needs to glide and ignite multiple times before it can correctly enter the intended orbit.
"Yuanzhi No. 1, radar tracking is normal!"
When the second-stage rocket is about to reach the eastern Pacific Ocean, it has reached the predetermined orbital altitude.
"The second stage rocket begins to separate!"
"The manned capsule-return capsule combination is preparing to enter the predetermined orbit."
Speaking of this era, compared to previous generations, there is still one more prominent advantage.
That is the satellite communication system in space.
With the help of these communication satellites that are almost at the same orbital altitude as the manned capsule.
Data transmission between heaven and earth needs to be faster and more convenient.
Soon, the manned capsule-return module combination flew over the Atlantic Ocean, and Yuanzhi-3 located in the South Atlantic Ocean began work.
"Yuanshi No. 3, data injection is normal!"
The manned capsule officially entered the scheduled orbit at this time!
"The manned cabin is activating the external camera!"
Along with the transmission of radio information back and forth between heaven and earth.
Many people within the flight control center finally came to China after working for the country's aerospace industry for so many years.
View the earth from space!
"It looks so beautiful!" Looking at the blue sphere mixed with white clouds, Su Xiao was the first to exclaim.
The launch site control center does not have so much work after the rocket is launched successfully.
The flight control center also transmitted the footage captured by the manned cabin for everyone to see.
"Actually, it looks more beautiful in space!"
Zhang Xingyang sighed with a sense of recall.
When Zhang Xingyang was living in the Earth-orbiting space station, he faced an earth that hardly changed every day.
Everyone who has lived in the orbiting space station for several years said that they are tired of seeing this kind of scenery.
But I haven't seen such a scene for several years. Today I suddenly saw the earth from such a perspective, and I still feel that it is very beautiful.
This is an inconspicuous little broken ball in the universe. No matter how far we go, it is our unforgettable home.
At this moment, Zhang Xingyang seemed to understand a little bit. Those people who came on the space tourist ship worked in the Jupiter Orbital Production and Construction Corps all year round to collect helium-3 for the motherland.
After returning to the Earth Orbital Residential Station, looking at this blue planet, I was filled with tears of excitement.
"I don't know if I will ever have the opportunity to go to space and take a look in my lifetime!" Geng Bo was also on the side, sighing as he looked at the not particularly clear image on the big screen.
"If you hadn't died young before the age of fifty, you should still have a chance!"
Zhang Xingyang looked at Geng Bo's skinny body and said.
"Look, the manned capsule is flying over our country!"
Before Geng Bo had a chance to refute, Su Xiao shouted from the side.
"Why didn't you see the Great Wall?" Su Xiao said after looking at it for a while.
"The human eye cannot see objects with such a small resolution. If you want to see the Great Wall."
Zhang Xingyang was in a good mood at this time, and he still had the heart to joke a little:
"You can install a pair of high-precision cameras as your own eyes!"
(End of chapter)
