Chinese Moon Exploration·Feelings and Responsibility
Lift the youth power of "Chang'e"
In the early morning of December 17, 2020, the night was deep.
The command hall of the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center is as bright as daylight.
Researchers wearing blue anti-static coats are nervously busy in the computer jungle.
Thousands of miles away, at the windy Siziwangqi Aerospace Landing Field in Inner Mongolia, search and rescue crews in orange overalls waited for the "Chang'e" to return home.
Liu Jiangang, the chief dispatcher of Beijing's Chang'e 5 mission, sat firmly in the accusation hall.
He was about to celebrate his 31st birthday three days later, and shouted the last key password into the microphone in front of him.
In the accusation hall, confident youthful faces can be seen everywhere.
The responsible persons in hundreds of key measurement and control positions are mostly "post-80s" and "post-90s", with an average age of only 33 years.
Back in time 10 years ago, Chang'e-2 successfully arrived at the orbital orbital live broadcast site. Seeing the joy of many young people, the 57-year-old chief designer Wu Weiren burst into tears.
Behind them, the 82-year-old academician Sun Jiadong, the chief designer of Chang'e-1, watched all this quietly.
82 years old, 57 years old, and now 33 years old.
This is a kind of inheritance and a leap.
Turning to the dusty history, at the end of the 1950s, at the Jiuquan base where the wind was rustling, the leaders of the base with stained temples were eagerly waiting.
When the Soviet rocket experts who were currently here to assist stepped off the plane, the generals who had galloped the battlefield and made great achievements couldn't help being taken aback: "So young?"
Years do not live, the seasons are like flowing.
Time, baptized generations of astronauts, quietly changing the white hair into a youthful appearance.
The great era has chosen the younger generation, and the great cause has created the younger generation.
Generations of Chinese astronauts have used unparalleled youth power to write new stories about China's moon exploration on the long journey of lifting "Chang'e".
At that time they didn’t know that their future would be entwined with a distant and great cause
After many years, an old newspaper came back into people's sight.
On the gray-white newsprint, square characters printed with ink occupy small corners.
In the "Liberation Army Daily" of that year, a report was published, introducing China's three-step plan to explore the moon:
"Our country will officially launch the lunar exploration project from this year. It plans to launch the first lunar exploration satellite before 2007, that is, orbiting the moon. We will strive to launch a lunar probe to land on the moon in 2010, and achieve lunar surface inspection, survey and sampling in 2020. return."
Netizens read this "old news" on the screen of their mobile phones and couldn't help but admire "China has accurately completed every step of the plan."
That year was 2004.
That year, academician Luan Enjie, the first chief commander of the Chang'e Project, was 64 years old, academician Sun Jiadong, the first chief designer of the Chang'e Project, 75 years old, and the first chief scientist of the Lunar Applied Science Academician Ouyang Ziyuan, 69 years old.
That year, the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan was still deserted; the Long March 2 C rocket carried the Naxing-1 into the sky; the Chang'e-1 moon exploration project entered its first year.
That year, Zhou Chengyu, the youngest commander of the Chang'e 5 mission on the Wenchang Space Launch Site, was still a little girl under the age of 10; now the Long March 5 rocket launching support system model supervisor for the "Chang'e" liftoff Sun Zhenlian has just stepped into the campus of Beijing Institute of Technology...
As the backbone of today's Chang'e-5 mission, the "post-80s" and "post-90s" astronauts were still sitting in different classrooms.
They don't know that their future will be entangled with a distant and great cause.
On November 24, at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China, with the rocket tail flames burning through the night, the Long March 5 carried Chang'e 5 into the sky.
Among the different shades of blue in the astronauts, Zhou Chengyu's youthful face attracted the attention of netizens.
Many people can't help but become "lemon essence": "Look at other people's 24 years old, I'm sour!"
This Guizhou Tujia girl born in 1996 is the commander of the connector system of the Chang'e 5 lunar exploration mission.
But at the age of 24, she has already sat in the solemn accusation hall, as an indispensable part of the launch site, escorting the Chang'e-5 probe to the moon.
In the huge space engineering system, Zhou Chengyu is undoubtedly young.
But everyone has long been accustomed to this kind of youth.
In the early morning of November 30th, Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center.
"Attention, I am Beijing." 26-year-old Gao Jian stared at the data feedback on the electronic screen.
"The separation of the detector assembly is normal." His voice traveled along the radio waves to various points in the measurement and control system.
The voice fell to the ground, and this young man who had been in the dispatching post for only two years realized that his hands were sweaty and his back was a little wet.
The dispatching position is for two persons.
Before most of the time, Gao Jian was acting as a backup and deputy, assisting the main scheduling.
Today is the first time that Gao Jian has independently completed a "big password" in a major space mission.
Moderate excitement is necessary for him: "In order for this sentence to be normal, we must be aware of all the'abnormal' conditions behind it."
Seemingly sitting in the seat calmly, their brains must keep running at high speed at all times.
As the "engine" of the entire flight control system, the dispatcher must be clear about "when to do what and why at this moment."
Behind every password is a complex and cumbersome information and data, which is a scrutiny plan day and night.
To do this job, you must go all-out, and you must do your best.
A workbench a few feet square, a square computer screen, and communication equipment with scattered lines... This is the "battlefield" of the "Gaojians"; the password they shout is an order that is as heavy as Taishan; the requirements for operation , Is zero mistakes.
On the other side of the dispatching post, the general dispatcher Liu Jiangang was like a pin on the sea.
Born in 1989, he just became a father this year; Hu Xudong, the commander of the Chang'e 5 launch mission 01 born in 1980, is already an "older person" in the accusation hall at the Wenchang launch site; Xu Wenxiao, the commander of the Long March 5 rocket control system 26 years old……
In the various system teams behind Chang'e-5, countless young astronauts have already taken over the baton of China's aerospace industry and carried the future of China's aerospace on their shoulders.
In 2004, on the night of the launch of the "Chang'e Project", the first commander-in-chief Luan Enjie wrote a poem: "The earth has been cultivated for 60,000 years, and Chang'e has been homesick for 5,000 years. The remains of the wall are inspiring, and there is no taste in wasting the sixties."
We are still grateful for the predecessors of spaceflight who wanted to lift the "Chang'e" to the Moon Palace with their white temples 16 years ago; we are even more proud that today, China's aerospace talents have become the most young and energetic "aerospace eagles".
This is an "unromantic" astronaut, the most romantic response to the aerospace industry
The term aerospace is often connected with magnificent imagination.
Just like a Chinese astronaut said: "The accelerating spacecraft gradually breaks away from the gravity of the earth and enters into a vast and unfamiliar space to explore. The spacecraft is like a kite. No matter how far it flies, the silk thread is still firmly in control. We have it."
Shuttle between the stars and the sea, solving the mystery of the universe-it sounds so mysterious.
Before choosing to enter the aerospace field, Gao Jian also thought this way: "How romantic is it to explore from one planet to the next."
However, in fact, you need to be down-to-earth while looking up at the stars.
Accompanying the astronauts day after day are usually endless digital codes and plan drawings.
The first automatic sampling on the lunar surface, the first take-off from the lunar surface, the first unmanned rendezvous and docking on the lunar orbit 380,000 kilometers away, and the first time the lunar soil returned to the earth at a speed close to the second cosmic speed...Chang'e-5 probe creation It has set one record after another in the history of Chinese spaceflight.
Behind these records is the imagination full of romantic spirit, and it is also the tireless hard work of countless astronauts.
From overall design, track control to upward control, every link is kept improving.
"The Chang'e-5 mission is indeed one of the most complicated and difficult missions in recent years!" Rundong, who was responsible for the overall design of the Chang'e-5 mission of the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center, said with sincere emotion.
The overall design is like a central and coordinated nerve center that bears the responsibility of communicating internal and external systems to work together.
Every small adjustment and change means that a series of designs must be overthrown.
Sitting in the accusation hall, Rundong and his colleagues stayed on their seats to receive information, analyze data, repeatedly make calls from all sides, and notify various systems or inquire about the latest status of the spacecraft.
During the 7 days from braking in recent months to rendezvous and docking, each position in the flight control center must perform a series of key controls.
This week is known as "Devil Week".
Buried in the ocean of data, taking into account the adjustment of the plan, each round of 24-hour duty, dozens of calls... Rundong only rested for a few hours a day, then went back to the accusation hall.
All members of the track room are in place, and the staff are staring at the data feedback on the computer screen, immersing themselves in the flow of numbers and codes, and constantly calculating control parameters.
Cao Pengfei, the deputy designer in charge of orbit control, did not dare to relax for a second: “The orbit is the most basic. If the road goes wrong, the subsequent series of operations will be affected.”
From the launch of the probe to the landing, in 23 days, the Deep Space Exploration Flight Control Room of the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center issued nearly 10,000 control commands.
Although he has been working for 3 years, Li Xiaoyu, the designer in charge of the uplink of Chang'e 5, still trembles slightly when he finally clicks the send command button.
"This is the last link of control. If we make a mistake, there is no room for recovery." Li Xiaoyu's words revealed a bit of pride, "Our team has been formed in 2017 and has now completed the Chang'e 5 mission. An instruction."
In the early morning of the day when the Chang'e 5 mission was rendezvous and docked on December 6, after all operations were completed, Cao Pengfei was still watching nervously the feedback curve on the electronic screen.
It's getting closer, it's getting closer...it's normal!
The colleagues on the track team were so excited that they clapped their palms.
Everything went well without any expected failures.
The operator in the upper control post threw away the last stack of failure plan cards in his hand.
The two words that astronauts love to hear are "normal".
A string of data is injected into the remote detector according to the established trajectory, conveying the wishes of the researchers on the ground to the "Chang'e" in space-please bring the gift of the moon and return to the world safely.
On the large screen directly in front of the accusation hall, the Chang'e-5 probe moved smoothly along the calibrated curve.
In the brightly lit hall, apart from the "Ziwei", "Taiwei" and "Sky City" marked on the large-screen moon map, there is nowhere to be found that contains the dream of flying to the moon. The beauty.
As the 33-year-old astronaut Sun Zhenlian said, aerospace is a job that has no "fun" and cannot cater to secular trends.
There are only a group of science and engineering researchers with "no romantic talents", who are kept amidst purely rational data.
"The gravity on the moon is only one-sixth of that of the earth, and there is a particularly calm place. The traces left by humans on the moon can remain in that deserted and quiet place for 10,000 years." Cao Pengfei said, " Imagine that people ten thousand years later can still feel today’s “Chinese power” from the moon."
This is perhaps the most romantic response of an "unromantic" astronaut to the aerospace industry.
For the great dream, pay tribute to our dying youth
Looking back on his work, Liu Xin, the designer of Chang'e 5 remote control software, said seriously: "Actually, I am a programmer."
As he said, Liu Xin unconsciously touched the end of his long hair, smiled and teased himself: "Although he hasn't been in a hurry on the hairline like other male colleagues."
Liu Xin didn't think what he was doing was so special, but just soaked in the computer room every day to type on the keyboard, write code, find "bugs", update and test repeatedly.
"It's the life of an ordinary programmer. It's very boring." There is no window in the computer room. Liu Xin often sits in from 8 o'clock in the morning. He doesn't know the day and night.
When there was no air conditioner in the computer room last summer, they installed a few electric fans.
It was too hot to sit still, and everyone stood in front of the computer writing code.
From time to time when the inspiration dries up, Liu Xin goes to run on the treadmill, sweating, and letting go of his brain, inspiration may come out.
Sometimes college classmates chat and talk about Liu Xin's busy "Long March", "Chang'e", "Tianzhou", and "Tianwen", and they all feel that they are "tall".
"But they are all ordinary jobs, ordinary people." Liu Xin laughed at this.
Next to Liu Xin, there is such a fifty-year-old astronaut-senior engineer Zhang Zuli.
She guarded the last post and insisted on waiting until the Chang'e 5 lunar exploration mission was successfully completed before retiring with confidence.
30-year-old Liu Xin is a little longing: "I really want to be like her and stick to this post."
This seemingly mysterious job for outsiders is actually dull and boring, and it has become increasingly busy with the increase in launch tasks.
Liu Xin has become accustomed to this busyness, and the achievements and pride gained after being busy.
In the early morning of December 17, the Chang'e-5 returner returned to Earth smoothly.
He Ximing, the deputy designer in charge of lunar teleoperation, and team members finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The screen in the accusation hall has become "red."
He Ximing and his colleagues all smiled and took a group photo in front of the big red words "Mission Successfully".
At this moment, whether it is the Siziwangqi landing site covered in ice and snow, the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center in the dim night, or the aerospace measurement and control station located in the north and south of the river, Chinese astronauts are standing on different geographical coordinates and sharing this together. A moment of joy.
The countless hardships and sufferings were finally frozen into contented smiling faces on the screen.
For young astronauts, perhaps the most precious memory of these days and nights of fighting for the Chang'e 5 spacecraft is plainness, and they don't need too many waves.
After the group photo celebration, He Ximing and many other astronauts will withdraw from the celebration of lifting "Chang'e" and seamlessly switch to the next mission.
Go to the south pole of the moon to sample and return, explore Mars, build a space station... In order to bring the eyes and footprints of the Chinese people to the more distant and bright deep space, the Chinese astronauts have been non-stop.
With the complete success of the three-step plan of "circle, fall, and return", China Aerospace will once again embark on a new journey, stepping on the beat of youth, and continuing to move forward with a new "Chinese speed".
People's Liberation Army Daily reporter Yang Yue An Puzhong
Special correspondent Zhang Wei, correspondent Song Xingguang