September 28, Jiuquan Launch Center.
The manned rocket, which is more than 20 stories high, is quietly sitting on the launch pad, waiting for the launch window to arrive.
"The weather conditions these days don't seem to be very good?"
Geng Bo flipped through the forecast report he had just received from the meteorological department and said with some reluctance.
"Brother Xingyang, do we really want to delay the launch?"
"Actually, it's cloudy at most, so the launch doesn't have anything to do with it, right?"
Zhang Xingyang didn't say anything, but looked at the cloudy Gobi Desert in a daze.
I don’t know if God really wants to go against them. The Gobi Desert, which never rains a drop of rain all year round, has had several rains recently.
"Weather problems are something none of us want to see."
"But according to the rules and regulations we have formulated, launches are definitely not possible in this kind of weather."
"Report to the command center, the weather conditions do not allow us to launch."
"We have to re-select the time and wait for good weather to launch."
The rocket itself is actually not afraid of these bad weather.
It can still take off even in severe storms.
However, bad weather will have a great impact on the optical tracking system of ground monitoring stations.
It is impossible to monitor the flight trajectory of the rocket in the sky in time.
This prevents everyone from making timely adjustments to the rocket's trajectory after problems occur.
Although the autopilot in the rocket's control system can adjust the speed and attitude of the rocket based on various gyroscopes and accelerometers on the rocket.
But as a manned rocket, it is far from enough to rely solely on the autopilot and the astronauts' own on-the-spot judgment.
"Does the weather condition at the launch site really not support launch?"
After Geng Bo reported the information about the postponement of the launch, within three minutes, a call from Zhao Tianming came to Zhang Xingyang’s mobile phone.
"Judging from our rules and regulations, such weather does not support rocket launches."
Zhang Xingyang naturally knew what kind of luck Zhao Tianming had.
What if the impact of the weather is not that big? What if the weather gets better after the rocket is launched? !
However, Zhang Xingyang did not want to gamble with the efforts of the entire aerospace system staff for more than ten years and the lives of astronauts.
As the commander-in-chief of the rocket launch, Zhang Xingyang is responsible for the hard work and life safety of these people.
Even a one in 10,000 chance of an accident is unacceptable.
Although riding a rocket into space is still a high-risk job under today's technical conditions.
But facing the excited astronauts, Zhang Xingyang did not want them to die during the rocket launch due to weather conditions.
"We believe that the only choice today is to choose the launch time at a later date."
Zhang Xingyang said categorically.
In fact, Zhang Xingyang himself is not a particularly tough person. In the eyes of many people, he is a very gentle person.
But on this issue, he showed an unprecedented tough attitude.
If possible, Zhang Xingyang wouldn't want to do this.
But he really didn't want any problems to occur during the first rocket launch, so as to give others the impression that Longguo's manned spaceflight was not particularly reliable.
"Okay, let's suspend the launch mission first."
"We will discuss a new launch date later."
Zhao Tianming also hopes that there will be no problems in the first launch, but the pressure from all parties on him is much greater than Zhang Xingyang.
In addition, the optional launch may bring a lot of criticism to Zhao Tianming, which is one of the reasons why he personally called to inquire.
——
Twenty days later, at night at the Dongfeng Launch Site, the sky was clear and clear.
After waiting for more than half a month since the last launch was postponed, we finally waited for the window period for the launch of a manned rocket again.
"Don't be too nervous after you go up. If there are problems that can be solved, solve them. If you can't solve them, just go to the escape tower."
At this time, astronaut Yang Hongwei had finished saying goodbye to the people who came to see him off, and was dressed neatly and ready to enter the manned spacecraft.
Before entering, Zhang Xingyang, as the commander-in-chief of the launch process, was worried and ran over to give him a few words of advice.
"As the first manned space mission in China, I know you may have a lot of thoughts in your mind."
"But in our hearts, the most important thing is that you can come back safely."
While saying this, Zhang Xingyang stared seriously into Yang Hongwei's eyes.
Because in previous contacts, Zhang Xingyang fully understood the other party's psychological state. If he did not emphasize this issue,
After a problem occurs in the spacecraft, even if it cannot be solved, Yang Hongwei will definitely make multiple attempts, even if this may miss the best escape time, even if this may lead to his death.
After listening to Zhang Xingyang's words, Yang Hongwei muttered in his heart, but looking at Zhang Xingyang's serious eyes, he nodded and agreed:
"I'll come back alive!"
After putting on a space suit, the human body's flexibility is not as high as that of normal people.
But even so, Yang Hongwei still saluted Zhang Xingyang and everyone seeing him off with a standard military salute.
Zhang Xingyang and others also returned the gift seriously.
Although except for the astronauts, most of the people present were not in the military.
But as people working in the aerospace system, we can still understand that there is actually not much difference between going to space this time and going to a flesh-and-blood battlefield where shells are flying.
It can even be said that the danger of going to space is even greater.
After all, this is the first time for a real space launch. Although there have been two simulated dummy launches in China before, there are still many differences from real people.
The two assistants on the side carefully supported the astronauts to carry out the manned spacecraft.
Although due to the improvement in rocket carrying capacity, the space and weight of the manned spacecraft are much larger than in the previous life.
However, after adding a lot of scientific instruments, the actual space that can accommodate astronauts' living space has not increased much.
The space plane inside the cabin is about 3 meters * 3.2 meters, which is less than ten square meters.
In fact, the manned spacecraft is large enough to carry three astronauts for space activities.
However, due to safety and other considerations, it was ultimately decided to carry only one astronaut.
This manned space launch is more about testing the performance and coordination of each system, and does not pay special attention to manned scientific research activities.
At 8:40 a.m., the manned spacecraft completed the final loading inspection.
All engineers evacuated the rocket launcher.
In the launch control center not far away, many people were anxiously waiting for the launch time to arrive.
In the control center, there are professional psychologists chatting with the astronauts who are quietly waiting in the manned spacecraft.
In fact, as an astronaut selected from countless outstanding pilots in the entire military, Yang Hongwei has very excellent psychological quality.
It is a basic quality for them to remain calm even when Mount Tai collapses in front of them.
But the psychiatrist is not telling astronauts not to be too afraid.
On the contrary, the psychiatrist wants the astronauts not to be too excited.
Like all boys who have a dream to become an astronaut when they were young, Yang Hongwei also had such a dream when he was a child.
But unlike those who gradually put their childhood dreams behind them as they grow up, I am now about to realize my childhood dreams.
This makes it difficult for Yang Hongwei not to feel excited.
But fortunately, he also knew that he couldn't be too excited.
So he tried hard to calm down his mood.
At the same time, he slightly increased the oxygen supply in the spacesuit, allowing his somewhat pounding heart to slowly return to normal.
"Countdown, five minutes!"
The young man in charge of announcing the time shouted loudly in the control center.
Zhang Xingyang looked at the green lights on the screen indicating that various monitoring stations and ocean-going monitoring ships were working normally, and narrowed his eyes.
In order to ensure the smooth progress of this launch, the land and sea-based measurement and control communication network alone used 15 measurement and control stations and six ocean-going survey ships, and more than 20 satellites were used as communication support.
In order to ensure the safety of astronauts in the event of an emergency, six emergency life-saving points were set up on land during the ascent stage, equipped with fifteen helicopters and a large number of ground search and rescue vehicles to perform search and rescue missions.
Four emergency life-saving areas were set up at sea, nine rescue vessels were dispatched, and they were equipped with three patrol aircraft and two ship-borne helicopters.
During the operation phase, in order to implement autonomous emergency return, fifteen spacecraft autonomous emergency return rescue areas were set up at home and abroad.
It can be said that for this manned flight, the country has used financial and material resources far beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
This is also an important reason why manned spaceflight can only be developed by big countries.
This is not just something that can be accomplished with rockets and manned spacecraft.
This is also an important reason why some countries in later generations may be able to gain certain advantages in satellites, but they cannot develop manned spaceflight.
Because this is a large-scale project, it cannot be completed independently without sufficient organizational capabilities and national strength.
As for relying on multinational cooperation to accomplish this, that is basically a fantasy.
"Countdown, one minute!"
The announcer's loud voice echoed within the control center.
The mood of everyone present was both excited and worried at this time.
The psychiatrist also stopped communicating with the astronauts at this time.
At this time, astronauts must devote themselves wholeheartedly to the work of the spacecraft.
As the first batch of astronauts in the country, all of them were trained as pilots, and everyone can drive a manned spacecraft.
For those who love driving, this may be the most powerful type of vehicle on the planet.
Even a high-speed fighter can only be called a younger brother compared to a rocket.
"Countdown, ten!"
"Nine!"
"eight!"
"three!"
"two!"
"one!"
"ignition!"
Zhang Xingyang accurately pressed the button on the console at the moment the countdown reached zero.
Electrical signals travel at the speed of light, within nanoseconds.
After reaching the automatic control system of the rocket, the rocket propulsion system control program began to smoothly ignite the bottom engine of the rocket.
Several tons of fuel were consumed in an instant and turned into millions of liters of high-temperature gas, pushing the rocket weighing more than 800 tons to rise from the ground!
Dust rose tens of meters high from the launch site, setting off a burst of desert smoke on the Gobi Desert.
Twelve seconds after the rocket took off, it began to turn.
"Dongfeng Shuangcheng, optical tracking is normal!"
As the optical tracking station closest to the launch site, good weather makes optical tracking effective.
The rocket flies very fast, and the time is measured in seconds.
120 seconds after the rocket took off, the escape tower was ejected.
"The escape tower is separated, normal!"
Within the control center, various instructions are broadcast almost constantly.
158 seconds after the rocket took off, the first stage rocket engine was ordered to shut down.
159 seconds after the rocket took off, the first and second stages of the rocket separated successfully.
"First stage rocket separation, successful!"
Inside the control center, except for the constant instructions, there is almost no other sound.
In a nearby room, the senior executives and representatives from all parties who came to watch were waiting quietly.
200.5 seconds after the rocket took off, the fairing separated.
"Fairing, separation successful!"
After the fairing was successfully separated, the command broadcast speed in the control center was much slower.
Only when various ground measurement and control stations and ocean surveyors are tracking and capturing can a sound be heard.
460 seconds after the rocket took off, the secondary main engine shut down.
"Secondary main engine, shut down!"
587 seconds after the rocket took off, the manned spacecraft and rocket completed the separation.
"Star and arrow separation, completed!"
"The manned spacecraft successfully entered orbit!"
The manned spacecraft entered an ellipse with an inclination angle of 42.4 degrees, a perigee altitude of 199.14 kilometers, and an apogee of 347.8 kilometers. The spacecraft deployed the solar panels on the propulsion module, began to orient toward the sun, and implemented an orbit change during its fifth flight. , entering a 343-kilometer-high circular orbit.
As the spacecraft officially entered its scheduled orbit, it marked that this manned spacecraft launch had achieved unprecedented success!
Thunderous applause erupted in the launch site control center!
At this time, everyone was caught in a sea of excitement and excitement, and almost everyone was telling the people around them how happy they were.
Even Zhang Xingyang, who doesn't like to have too much contact with others on weekdays, tried his best to hug the staff around him.
"Our dream of flying finally came true on this day!"
"The world, after this day, will divide domestic space history into two periods."
"From now on, space will no longer be filled with blond and blue-eyed foreigners!"
"There is also a descendant of our dragon!"
Zhang Xingyang rarely said these words on weekdays, but today he expressed his thoughts to many people present.
But most people agree with his idea.
The astronauts in space have successfully established communication with the ground at this time.
Through the camera in the manned spacecraft, Yang Hongwei waved to the people on the ground and said:
"Report to the ground command center!"
"I have entered space and am in good condition!" (End of this chapter)
