China News Service, Beijing, September 17th, title: From 400 kilometers "outside" to the earth, Chinese astronauts "going home" witnesses
Author Ma Shuaisha Guo Chaokai
At 10 o'clock in the morning on September 17, with the sudden sound of propellers, five helicopters circled and took off, drawing a beautiful arc in the sky.
The desert is endless, and the sun floods the Gobi.
Today, the Dongfeng Landing Field welcomed the astronauts Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming, and Tang Hongbo who had been on a business trip in space for 90 days to go home.
This is the first manned spacecraft return and astronaut search and rescue mission performed during the key technology verification and construction phase of China's manned space station.
When the ground team personnel set off, the dust rolled up on the Gobi highway; in the search and rescue command post, the operating personnel have been stationed for a long time, observing and interpreting data; at various points in the Gobi, ground base station personnel deployed equipment, conducted business tests, and searched and rescued. Support personnel are ready to check the equipment.
Every search and recovery step must be professional and accurate, and no difference is possible.
In order to welcome the astronauts to return home safely, the Landing Field Command has divided the landing area of tens of thousands of square kilometers, and deployed professional forces, local emergency mobilization forces and emergency forces in the landing core area, the landing area, and the large-scale deviation area. The constant emergency and search and rescue force system.
At 12:45, the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center notified that the return capsule was braked and turned on.
More than 20 minutes later, the orbital return was separated, and the Shenzhou XII spacecraft was about to return to Earth.
The camera screen in the return cabin showed that the three astronauts were lying flat in the seat of the return cabin. Nie Haisheng and Tang Hongbo each held an operation manual, familiar with the process and precautions.
The astronauts repeatedly confirmed the status to the ground, "Shenzhou XII report, the status is normal, complete."
Soon, the return cabin entered the "black barrier area."
During the landing process, the gas and the ablated heat-resistant material on the surface of the return cabin are ionized to form a plasma zone that wraps the return cabin, which greatly attenuates the radio communication between the return cabin and the outside world, and causes the radio communication between the ground and the spacecraft to be interrupted. , But ground personnel can still capture the return capsule image through ground optical equipment.
Before entering the "Black Barrier Zone", Nie Haisheng, who had two flying experiences before, told the newcomer Tang Hongbo about the experience of "Black Barrier".
"You can feel it carefully, it's okay, real gold is not afraid of fire." He said.
The first to capture the traces of the return module was the radar operator known as the "Eagle Eye" of the black barrier.
The flight speed of the return capsule when it enters the atmosphere reaches seven or eight kilometers per second. In order to accurately capture the target in time, it must be stable, accurate, and fast.
After receiving the search, recovery, tracking and measurement mission of the Shenzhou 12 spacecraft's return capsule, the radar operators moved to the uninhabited desert hinterland three months in advance.
After flying out of the "black barrier", the return cabin opened the parachute and threw the heat-proof outsole one after another.
After the communication with the astronauts is restored, the astronauts can be heard countdown to landing from time to time.
At 13:34, the return capsule landed safely on the Dongfeng landing field.
At the moment of landing, clouds of smoke were raised from the cabin.
At this time, the helicopter had arrived above the landing site, and the search and rescue personnel arrived at the first time and ran to the return cabin, accurately achieving "cabin landing, plane landing, and people arriving."
After dozens of minutes of ground environment adaptation and preliminary physical examinations by medical supervision and insurance personnel, Tang Hongbo, Nie Haisheng, and Liu Boming exited the cabin one by one with the assistance of the staff, and they were in good physical condition.
It was Liu Boming's birthday that day.
After getting out of the cabin, he said, "This birthday will be unforgettable for me. The universe is vast and beautiful, and it is fascinating. It will fly to the sky again and take a spacewalk on our own space station in China. It is my luck and a kind of happiness."
"This time our three-month trip to space completed a large number of space station construction tasks and a large number of scientific experiments. In my spare time, I also experienced the depth and wonder of space." Tang Hongbo reported his safety to his parents in Hunan. Say three "good" in a row.
"Daddy, mom, I'm back, good health, good spirits, very good!"
Nie Haisheng said that with the continuous improvement of China's comprehensive strength and national technological level, there will be more astronauts to set the record and create the height of China.
Chinese aerospace science and technology workers will live up to their mission, live up to heavy trusts, and make new contributions to work tirelessly for the motherland's aerospace industry.
(over)