On the eve of July 1, Shenzhou 12 astronaut crew in the space station Tianhe core module to send video wishes: “Happy birthday to the great Communist Party of China!”

Inside the video, the Chinese space station Tianhe core module is clean and tidy, has finished the “initial renovation”. The three astronauts are dressed in blue cabin uniforms and are lined up in an “arrowhead” style. Not far away, the bright national flag and party flag hanging on both sides of the bulkhead.

At 15:54 on June 17, 2021, astronaut Nie Haisheng sent a report of “docking complete” to the ground command center in the Shenzhou return capsule. After 6.5 hours, Shenzhou from Jiuquan, China, finally arrived at the “Tiangong (Heavenly Palace)”.

The Shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft is about 9 meters long. The total length of the Shennzhou-12 manned spacecraft is about 27 meters when combined with the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft and the Tianhe core module. These two behemoths, which are “several stories high” in the eyes of the people of the earth, are extremely small in the vast expanse of space.  The two must not only accurately find each other, but also complete the rendezvous and docking on a high-speed orbit, like a “needle in space.”

Now, two weeks have passed since the Chinese astronauts were stationed in the “Tiangong”. Astronauts in the “Tiangong” home, what kind of life has begun?

The “three rooms and one bathroom” in the Tiangong

When docking with Shenzhou 12 manned spacecraft, Tianhe-Tianzhou combination has been in orbit for 18 days, in good condition. Tianhe core module is the key module of Chinese space station “Tiangong”. It is not only the space station’s “intelligent brain” and central, but also the main living place of the astronauts’ long-term stay.

On April 29, 2021, the Tianhe core module was successfully lifted off. A month later, the “Tianzhou-2” cargo spacecraft, carrying a large amount of supplies, completed rendezvous and docking with the Tianhe core module.

On June 17, Tianhe core module in debugs the cabin temperature, humidity and other environmental values in advance, ushered in the first batch of “visitors”.

Astronaut Nie Haisheng is the commander of the Shenzhou 12 astronaut crew, this is his third manned spacecraft mission.

In 2013, he performed the rendezvous and docking mission between Shenzhou-10 and Tiangong-1. At that time, Tiangong-1 adopted a two-compartment configuration of resource module and experimental module. The volume of the experimental module for astronauts to work and live was about 40 cubic meters, and the effective activity space was only 15 cubic meters.

Today, the core module provides the astronauts with about 110 cubic meters of living space. Their activity space has achieved a leap forward, can be described as “silo into a large flat”.

Seeing the astronauts’ new home in space at that moment, Yang Liwei, deputy chief designer of China’s manned space program at the ground launch site, could not help but sigh: “This’ home ‘is too big, I envy them too much.”

Under the weightless conditions in space, the astronauts’ sleeping position is not restricted. Previously, Chinese astronauts mostly slept standing up in sleeping bags. After sleeping, thust will be generated by human breathing gas, astronauts and sleeping bags will be involuntarily in the air “floating” movement.

Shenzhou-11 astronaut Chen Dong recalled in the TV program, because the sleeping bag is not fixed, when sleeping back against the bulkhead, “Never felt as secure as sleeping on earth”. Moreover, there are machines running on the spacecraft 24 hours a day, with a lot of low and high frequency equipment, blinding lights and noisy noise, all of which become obstacles to sleep.

“I have to put in earplugs first, earmuffs on the outside of the earplugs, and then an eye mask. Then get into the sleeping bag to expose your feet and stomp on the opposite bulkhead before you find the feeling of sleeping on the ground.” Chen Dong said.

Tianhe has a new change. In addition to space, the Tianhe core module meticulously draws out a living space, setting up a “three rooms and a bathroom”, each astronaut has a separate sleeping area.

From the appearance, the astronauts’ sleeping area resembles a “capsule bunk”, with a layer of zippered blackout doors covering the outermost part. The bedroom has a special workstation for pads, notebooks, books and other items. There is also a storage space under the bedroom sleeping board for the astronauts’ personal clothes, shoes, etc.

Although still not comparable to sleeping soundly on Earth, the astronauts have completed the upgrade from “sleeping standing” to “lying flat” experience, and the separate compartment also allows the astronauts to have more privacy. In addition, engineers have done noise reduction for the equipment and developed noise-reduction headphones for the astronauts.

It is reported that the room temperature in the Tianhe core module is about 23 degrees, and can be adjusted independently. Astronauts start working at 8 a.m. They follow the 24-hour mechanism to achieve synchronization between heaven and earth. Through the heaven-earth communication links and video calling equipment, astronauts can also play two-way video calls with family and friends, send and receive e-mail.

In order to prevent muscle atrophy in weightlessness, astronauts need to carry out a certain amount of exercise every day. The core module is equipped with space running platform, space bicycle, tensioner and other sports equipment for astronauts’ daily exercise.

Inside the core module, Chinese elements can be found everywhere, such as the all-Chinese operating console, the Chinese knots hanging in the passageway, and the Chinese flag posted on the cabin wall.

Astronaut Liu Boming has a bull doll puppet hanging in his sleeping area in a cute way, which is one of the personal items he brought into space. In a previous interview, Liu said it means “bullishness”.

Breakfast bags should also be “glued” to the table in advance

Early in the morning of June 20, the Tianhe core module sleeping area lights up gradually.

Washing, dressing, cleaning up the bed, eating …… these seemingly simple little things in space but consume a lot of time for the astronauts. Lost the traction of the earth’s core, everything in space is weightless.

Just wake up, astronaut Liu Boming is as light as a swallow, leaping from the “capsule sleeper”. But then, the “floating like a dragon” uniform became a problem. In the passage of the sleeping area, Liu Boming stomped on the bulkhead with both feet, and finally put on the hem of his work clothes, which were flying by force.

The cabin dining area is compactly designed, with a small foldable dining table. Three people “sitting” around the table to eat breakfast, each person is like a “no physical sitting stool” performance. Breakfast packets should also be “glued” to the table in advance. Astronaut Tang Hongbo was the first to finish eating and took the lead in starting the work. He held an apple in his left hand, and while eating it, he made a horse step in the void. The laptop is floating in front of it, and it will fly away without noticing.

The first week in the space station, the astronauts’ top job is still to “unpack and decorate”. A month ago, the “Tianzhou II” cargo spacecraft packaged and delivered more than six tons of supplies. The good thing is that the package is labeled with a QR code, the astronauts can scan the box to obtain information.

In the weightless environment, the package is free from the ties, most of them floating in the air. If there is no lending point, the astronaut and the package can only close the distance between each other, unable to move from one point to another. The astronauts have to move the package while using their hands and feet to apply force to the fixings inside the capsule to complete the movement.

However, in the Tianhe core module, blue grippers, straps and other hand and foot restraints can be seen everywhere, to help astronauts overcome weightlessness, in space can also be “on the ground”.

Weightlessness also brings convenience, astronauts can be instantly transformed into “Hercules”.

On the morning of June 20, the nodal module lens of the core module of the sky captured such an image. Astronaut Tang Hongbo from the cabin carried out a large blue package, which is one of the extra-vehicular space suits. Just see Tang Hongbo gently pull, the 120 kg extra-vehicular space suit floated into the node module.

It seems that the three astronauts are familiar with the weightless environment. In fact, behind such ease is a hard simulation training.

It is reported that, in order to protect the astronauts spacewalk mission, the astronauts need to conduct a large number of trainings in a large pool, mastering the coordination of movement and attitude control in weightlessness, as well as space movement, space operations, delivery of goods and maintenance operations and other activities methods and techniques, this training is “realistic and efficient”.

Because of the limited life of the underwater training suit, each opportunity to go underwater is very valuable. The astronauts will stay in the water for more than six hours, and when they come ashore at the end of the training, they will be drenched in sweat, “especially because they can’t lift their arms, and they can’t even hold chopsticks”.

Space food has also been carefully designed. For example, to try to meet the “a bite to eat”, “less residue”, “less juice” and so on. It is known, when selecting the space fruit for this mission, the staff made a difficult choice between apples and oranges. Finally, because the apple is less juicy and easy to preserve, thus beating the orange and successfully be selected.

Bamboo shoots and shredded pork fried noodles, space aroma dumplings, pine nuts corn, spicy beef …… this three-month-long mission to the astronauts equipped with more than 120 kinds of space food. In the Tianhe core module dining area, also configured with food heating, refrigeration and drinking water equipment for astronauts to use.

These dishes have a balanced nutrition, rich variety, good taste, long shelf life and other characteristics, facilitating with salty, spicy, sour and sweet taste for the astronauts’appetite. When the mission is over, the cargo spacecraft will return with meal waste and other waste from orbit, and eventually burned and destroyed in the atmosphere.

Three major technologies to do the first attempt

In space, astronauts often wear multiple hats. Both as a pilot, control the spacecraft; and repairman, maintenance equipment; Shenzhou-11 manned spacecraft astronauts have also served as “space farmers” and “animal breeders.

Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China’s manned space program, said the three-person crew of Shenzhou-12 had a daunting task. “Such as regenerative life preservation technology, mechanical arm technology, and extra-vehicular activity technology, the verification of these three technologies, our crew is the first to ‘eat crabs’.”

It is understood that, compared to the previous manned mission, the Tianhe core module configures the regenerative life support system, including electrolysis oxygen, condensate collection and treatment and other subsystems. It can realize the recycling of water and other expendable resources to ensure the long-term residence of astronauts in orbit.

For example, the astronaut’s urine can be turned into drinking water by the “regenerative life support system”. The astronauts will test and apply the technology to make the space station’s oxygen and water and other materials as recyclable as possible.

“The key point about regenerative bioprotection technology is that it is a technology that has to operate reliably in a long-term weightless environment, and there has to be human involvement to really validate it.” Zhou Jianping said, “And if it is necessary to carry out the adjustment of the parameters in orbit or the replacement of consumables, it is necessary for people to go directly to complete the task, they are the first to complete this task.”

According to plan, during the Shenzhou-12 mission, the astronauts will carry out two extra-vehicular activities with the cooperation of the robotic arm. Of the three astronauts, one will operate in the cabin and two will complete the exit, which is expected to take six or seven hours. In order to minimize the burden of astronauts operating outside the cabin, the robotic arm on the core module can quickly transfer the astronauts to the designated location, which can save physical strength and also facilitate the carrying of various tools and equipment.

The extravehicular space suit is also known as the “flying machine” worn by the astronauts, who will face a series of tests such as temperature difference of more than 300 degrees and space radiation when they leave the space station and enter space. The extra-vehicular space suit can ensure that the astronauts can leave the space station to carry out a series of complex operations and related loading tests in an absolutely safe environment.

China’s “flying” extravehicular space suit weighs about 120 kilograms, worth a lot of money, each set cost up to 30 million yuan.

It is learned that the Shenzhou 12 manned spacecraft astronauts to carry out the mission, will wear a new generation of extravehicular space suits, new space suits out of the cabin support.

“Our goal is the starry sea.”

After the successful launch of the Shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft on June 17, the test and launch hall of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center became a sea of joy. An old astronaut with white hair walked into the hall and became a “star” for people to shake hands and take photos. He is the chief commander and chief designer of Shenzhou-1 spacecraft, academician Qi Faren.

Qi Faren is 88 years old, but hale and hearty, there was joy in his calm voice.

“I used to be at my position (work).” Qi said, “Today, as an ordinary person, in the square with the guys, to see the launch, ignition, takeoff, takeoff, is a very rare occasion, my mood is also very excited.”

In a speech on June 18, Yang Liwei said he and the crew had arrived at the Dongfeng Martyrs’ Cemetery to honor the martyrs days before the launch of the Shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft.

“The youngest of them was only 16 years old. The average age is only 24 years old. I think it was their silent dedication that made it possible for the astronauts to travel in space today.” Yang Liwei said.

Many people do not know that whenever a major launch mission takes place, it has become a tradition with great Chinese aerospace characteristics to pay homage to the aerospace martyrs who lie in the Dongfeng Revolutionary Martyrs’ Cemetery.

The cemetery is located in the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, a few kilometers from the manned space launch site. Founding Marshal Nie Rongzhen inscribed the name of the monument, and General Zhang Aiping inscribed the name of the cemetery, “Cemetery of Martyrs of the East Wind Revolution”.

From marshals and generals to ordinary officers and soldiers, science and technology workers, more than six hundred aerospace workers have been laid to rest here. The black tombstones are neatly arranged and seem to be a wordless military formation. They had been proud of “from now on, we have our own missiles”, and they had also chanted the battle slogan of “die on the Gobi dessert and be buried at the head of the green mountains”.

In 1992, China proposed to implement the “three-step” strategy of manned space program. At present, it has successfully completed the “two-step” task of launching manned spacecraft and astronauts’ capsule activities. Now, the third step of China’s manned space project – the construction of the space station – has been in full swing.

In the first half of 2021, China has launched the core module of the space station, Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft and Shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft, the frequency is high, the task of the dense is “rare” in recent years.

After the completion of the rendezvous and docking, Tianhe-Tianzhou combination and Shenzhou-12 spacecraft form a “one” shaped structure. But this is not the final form of the “Heavenly Palace”.

From 2021 to 2022, with the advancement of several space station phase launch missions,in the future, China’s space station will be composed of the Tianhe core module, the “Inquire to Heaven” experimental module and the “Dream Sky” experimental module, which are in the basic configuration of the T-shaped shape.

By 2022, China will complete the construction of the space station in orbit and build a national space laboratory. After that, the space station will enter the application and development phase.

“When moving into the next century, more young people look up to the stars and build dreams to ask the sky. By that time, China will not only be a space power, but also a space power. Let’s work together, our goal is the starry sea.” Yang Liwei said in his speech.