China Reaches for the Stars: Groundbreaking Progress in Building a State-of-the-Art Space Station

[인민망 한국어판 9월 23일] China’s Tiangong space station, one of the two space stations currently in space, weighs 100 tons, has a working and living space of more than 100 cubic meters, and its comprehensive technological level is world-leading.

“A small step forward is a big step toward your dream. “The Chinese space station is worth waiting for forever!” On September 2, 2022, Shenzhou 14 astronaut Liu Yang said this with deep admiration after completing the first extravehicular activity (EVA).

Liu Yang, who made her first space flight aboard the Shenzhou 9 manned spacecraft in 2012, made a wish after leaving Tiangong 1, saying, “I will definitely come back.” Liu Yang realized her dream after 10 years. During the Shenzhou 14 mission, she and her colleagues welcomed two laboratory modules, “Wentian” and “Mengtian.” The elaborate and ingenious design of the Chinese space station, which combines the Tianhe core module and two laboratory modules into a T-shaped base structure and flies stably in space, is surprising.

Astronaut Nie Haisheng has flown three missions. “I felt new and had new experiences every time,” he said. “The most intuitive feeling I got from the Chinese space station was that the comfort was constantly improving, the reliability was gradually increasing, the activity space was growing, and the space food was becoming more and more diverse.”

Astronaut Tang Hongbo said: “The first feeling I had after entering the space station was that it was very large and very deep. The second was that the sleeping area was quiet and there was little noise. The third was that the space station was a ‘room with a view.’ During a break, I quickly took out my phone and took a photo of the scenery outside the window. “The most important thing was that this was Korea’s experimental platform for space science. Experimental opportunities don’t come easily, and I was very proud that the operational experience was valuable,” he said.

Since the very beginning, China’s manned spaceflight has aimed to reach a world-leading level and has sought to make major breakthroughs in core technologies, successively solving and conquering key challenges such as space-Earth shuttles, space extravehicular activities and docking. We have independently developed a space station robotic arm system with Chinese characteristics, while meeting the needs of space station missions. The localization rate of parts and core parts reaches 100%…

After launching the core module, Tianhe, at the end of April 2021, China completed the construction of the space station in just 20 months, setting a record for the fastest space station construction in the history of world space. From unmanned flights to manned flights, from one person per day to multiple people over several days, from cabin experiments to extravehicular activities, from single spacecraft flights to space stations… It took 30 years for China’s manned spaceflight to surpass half a century of development in developed countries.

Behind this achievement are the joint efforts of more than 110 scientific research institutions, more than 3,000 scientific research institutions and hundreds of thousands of scientists to support the Chinese people in building their space home.

The achievements in space utilization applied to various sectors are also receiving attention worldwide.

China first grew plants in space with the launch of the Shenzhou 11 mission in 2016. Astronaut Jing Haifeng wrote in his diary: “At that time, Cheon Dong (陳冬) and I were very happy and were the first to announce this good news to the ground crews. “We took a lot of photos and even took a souvenir photo with lettuce sprouts.”

Six years later, Chinese astronauts became the first to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival in space and eat fresh lettuce they had grown themselves. Astronaut Cai Xuzhe commented, “It tasted good.”

To build a space station, a space station is built to build and apply spacecraft. This is also the original intention and mission of the Chinese space station. As space science experiments are conducted in an orderly manner within the National Space Science Laboratory, more and more application results are produced.

Rice seeds that have traveled into space are expected to increase high-quality production, and space cucumbers and space tomatoes are also receiving favorable reviews. Space breeding is helping to increase grain production by about 2.6 billion kg per year. A product developed to prevent bone loss in astronauts could be used to prevent degenerative arthritis, osteoporosis and muscle atrophy… As of August 2023, China’s space station has conducted more than 100 space science research and application projects in orbit, and more than 4,000 Chinese space application results are widely used in various industries.

China’s space capabilities are constantly improving, including the “Beidou” network, the “Chang’e” lunar rover, the “Tianwen” Mars rover, and the “Xihe” solar exploration satellite. Starting from the cradle of the Earth, Chinese astronauts are carving out a majestic chapter that upholds the Chinese dream through the cosmic dream in the vast universe. (Translation: Lee In-sook)

Original source: People’s Network/Data source: People’s Daily

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