China News Service, Beijing, June 5th (Ma Shuaisha Li Tongyu Maohua) On June 5th, astronauts Chen Dong, Liu Yang, and Cai Xuzhe took the Shenzhou 14 manned spacecraft and successfully "checked into" the Chinese space station and opened them up. A 6-month "space travel life".
How do the astronauts in the spacecraft get into the space station?
As the "joint part" of China's space station construction, the docking mechanism developed by the Eighth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation has built a safe and reliable "life channel" for astronauts to "stay" in the space station.
Dock at "Space Homeport"
After being launched into orbit, the Shenzhou 14 manned spacecraft embarked on a journey of chasing the space station, and carried out an autonomous rapid radial rendezvous and docking with the core module. .
Chasing, approaching, holding hands, hugging, dancing together... The process of rendezvous and docking between the spacecraft and the space station is comparable to a "space waltz".
As a key product to achieve rendezvous and docking, the docking mechanism will complete a series of actions such as capturing, buffer correction, drawing, and rigid connection in this process.
As the spacecraft and the space station combination gradually approach, the active docking mechanism on the spacecraft will push out the docking ring, and the passive docking mechanism on the space station combination will achieve instant capture under precise control.
After the "hand in hand" is successful, there is still a certain attitude deviation and shaking between the spacecraft and the space station. At this time, it is necessary to realize energy buffering, consumption and attitude deviation correction through various spring elements and controllable damping mechanisms inside the docking mechanism to ensure that The enormous impact energy during the docking process does not create a physical overload for the astronauts inside the spacecraft.
After the attitude of the spacecraft is stable, the active docking mechanism will draw closer to each other by retracting the docking ring, and finally "hug" together; finally, the docking mechanism will lock the 12 docking locks to achieve a sealed and rigid connection between the spacecraft and the space station. Create a safe and reliable docking channel.
At this time, the astronauts can "disembark" one by one and go to the space station.
80 cm diameter "space porch"
Entering the space station from a spacecraft is not as easy as walking through the door.
After docking steadily at the space station, the astronauts must first open the door of the return cabin of the Shenzhou 14 spacecraft and come to the door of the orbital cabin of the spacecraft.
At this time, a channel with a diameter of 80 cm and a length of about 1 meter has been formed between the front-end active docking mechanism of the orbital module and the passive docking mechanism of the core module, which is the "porch" for astronauts to enter the space station.
Here, the astronauts have enough space to remove the "key" and open the double safety door leading to the core compartment.
This circular passage with a diameter of 80 cm is equivalent to the width of a normal room door.
The designers conducted various simulation experiments on the ground, one of which was to ask a designer who is 1.8 meters tall and weighs more than 80 kilograms to conduct an on-site ergonomic evaluation according to the maximum envelope of the astronaut's body to ensure the astronaut's ergonomics. "Passage feels good".
The airtight "channel of life"
After the docking channel is opened, the astronaut is equivalent to entering a large sealed cabin. In order to ensure the safety of the astronaut in the cabin, the tightness of the sealed cabin is very important.
How to ensure 100% sealing, the sealing ring on the frame of the docking mechanism becomes the key point.
According to the designer of the 805 Institute of the Eighth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the sealing ring of the Shenzhou spacecraft adopts a double-ring design and is installed in the T-shaped groove of the docking surface of the active docking mechanism, so that the sealing performance can be double protected.
The designer has also carried out research on the sealing ring material for 6 years to solve the "brittleness" characteristics of ordinary materials in a low temperature environment and the aging of materials after long-term work, and finally create an airtight "life" for astronauts. aisle".
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