Today is space with you [No. 1449]
The eastern end of Hainan Island, China's Wenchang Cosmodrome.
Here, we have witnessed one historic moment after another -
On June 25 and November 3, 2016, the first flight of the new generation of carrier rockets in the mainland, the Long March 7 and Long March 5, was successful.
On April 20, 2017, the first cargo spacecraft on the mainland, Tianzhou-1, was launched, and it conducted three rendezvous and docking with the Tiangong-2 space laboratory and three times of propellant replenishment on orbit.
On April 29, 2021, the continental space station and core module soared from here, and China officially entered the era of the space station.
On May 29 and September 20, 2021, the Tianzhou-2 and No. 3 cargo spacecraft took off again, successfully docking with the Tianhe core module, and the construction of the continental space station entered a critical stage of carrying forward the upper and lower levels...
With the construction of the space station, the continent's youngest space launch site has thrived, and the comprehensive test launch capability has continued to jump, forming a new generation of carrier rockets with high-density launch capabilities.
China's new home port for lunar exploration, China's planetary exploration home port, and now, here has another title - the Chinese space station to build the home port.
Hard work, the coast of the South China Sea drew a blueprint for the "Heavenly Palace"
According to the national plan, the new generation of long march 5 and long march 7 carrier rockets with greater carrying capacity, higher reliability and greener environmental protection will play an important role in the future space launches of the mainland.
The development and put into use of the two types of rockets requires the supporting construction of space launch sites corresponding to them, and the three space launch sites in Jiuquan, Taiyuan, and Xichang before the mainland, their geographical location in terms of large-diameter rocket transportation and the safety of rocket flight debris landing areas do not meet the requirements of the new generation of carrier rockets, and the Wenchang Space Launch Site came into being under such conditions.
In 2007, after research, it was decided that the mainland would build a new generation of carrier rocket launch site in Wenchang, Hainan, and the Xichang Satellite Launch Center would undertake the heavy responsibility of construction, management and use.
Things are sweet and bitter, and those who taste them know; the Tao has dangers, and those who have been repeated know. Today's Wenchang launch site is beautiful, however, behind the poetry, Xichang astronauts have sweated for it beyond the imagination of ordinary people. High temperature, high humidity, high salt fog, poisonous insects and poisonous snakes, typhoons and rainstorms, laying on the ground and laying board houses... Faced with the harsh environment in the early stage of entrepreneurship, the Xichang astronauts were not intimidated by the difficulties, carried out arduous struggle and education while building, encouraged scientific and technological personnel with the entrepreneurial story of the "out of the desert, into the deep mountains" period, and shouted out the earth-shaking slogan of "sunshine as health care, typhoon as a fan, heavy rain as sweat, revolution and hard work, decisive victory in five hundred days".
In 2014, after nearly 6 years of hard work, the 7th and 52th launch stations successfully passed the acceptance. In July and September of the same year, the launch site experienced the severe test of super typhoon "WeiMasson" and strong typhoon "Seagull", and a launch site full of modern atmosphere rose on the coast of the South China Sea, waiting for the day when it would be a blockbuster.
To the sky, China's manned spaceflight project has created a miracle
Turning over the historical data, a magnificent picture of Xichang astronauts exploring the vast universe and building a space power slowly unfolded in front of people.
“5、4、3、2、1！ ignition! Clock clock back, at 20:00 on June 25, 2016, in the cheers of the people, the Long March 7 rocket newly developed by the mainland manned space project to launch the cargo spacecraft was ignited and launched at the Wenchang Space Launch Site, and The first battle of China's new generation space launch site was successful.
This second-reading sound has been ringing in the hearts of entrepreneurs since the feasibility demonstration was conducted more than a decade ago. Since then, generations of Xichang astronauts have been comparing the "blueprint" of this launch site with the grand goal of "world-class space launch site".
At 20:43 on November 3 of the same year, the Long March 5, a new generation of large-scale carrier rockets on the mainland, took off, and the first flight mission of the Long Five was a complete success. This great victory marks that the mainland's rocket carrying capacity has entered the international advanced ranks and has taken a crucial step in the continent's transformation from a space power to a space power.
Since then, one after another exciting news has come from here: Tianzhou-1 has taken off, Changwu Yao has repeated the flight, Changwu B has made its first flight, and the Construction of the Chinese Space Station... The Xichang astronauts of the new era have exchanged sweat and wisdom for the magnificent moment of the big rocket taking off.
Self-reliance, innovation and transcendence. In the course of the take-off, one by one, the data jumped on the paper, witnessing the leap in the launch site's comprehensive test launch capability. From the long seven first flight to the launch of Tianzhou-1, it took nearly 1 year; and from the launch of the space station Tianhe core module to the launch of Tianzhou-2, the time interval was only 1 month...
"From the first test flight of the Long March 7 to the smooth lift-off of Tianzhou 3, 6 years, only enough for a baby to grow into a child, but the Wenchang Space Launch Site has spanned the growth into a world-famous Chinese space station to build a home port, and the sound is universal!" The party secretary of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center said proudly.
Innovation and transcendence, accelerating towards world-class
"On the occasion of the successful launch mission of the space station's tianhe core module, on behalf of the Party Central Committee, the State Council and the Central Military Commission, I extend warm congratulations and sincere greetings to you!"
On April 29, 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping sent a telegram to congratulate the successful launch of the Tianhe core module of the Chinese space station. For many consecutive years, the general secretary has praised and praised Xichang Aerospace and Wenchang Aerospace in the mission congratulatory message and New Year's message, and all the aerospace workers of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center have been greatly inspired and encouraged, rolled up their sleeves and worked hard, and marched forward toward the great goal of building a space power.
In the journey of building a space power, Wenchang Cosmodrome has unique advantages and can shoulder heavy responsibilities: first, the latitude is low, the launch efficiency and cost ratio are high, and the carrying capacity of the geosynchronous orbit can be increased by more than 15% under the same conditions; the second is that the shooting direction is wide and the safety is good, the rocket is fired within 1,000 kilometers of the sea, and the wreckage landing area is at sea; the third is that the shipping is convenient and feasible, which can solve the problem that railways, roads and air transport cannot transport large-size rockets; fourth, it is non-toxic, non-polluting, and green and environmentally friendly. It is the first launch site in mainland China to fully adopt new propellants such as liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen, and aviation kerosene.
After these years of construction and development, Wenchang Cosmodrome has built the largest and most advanced aerospace cryogenic refueling system from scratch, cultivated an experienced command and operation team, formed a set of effective use and management experience, realized the automation and intelligence of the whole process of refueling, the informatization and intensification of test launches, and now has the ability to test and launch multiple types of rockets and spacecraft in parallel.
Exploring the vast universe, developing the space industry, and building a space power are our unremitting pursuit of the space dream. As China's space industry grows from big to strong, Wenchang Cosmodrome will increasingly play a more important role.