China News Network Jiuquan, May 5 Topic: Gui Haichao: 29-year-old professor Beihang "transformed" into the first payload expert of the Chinese space station

Authors: Zhan Kang, Ma Shuaisha, Guo Chaokai

Wearing a pair of nearsighted glasses, his thin black face is full of a confident smile. On May 5, with the announcement of the Shenzhou 29 astronaut crew, Gui Haichao appeared in the public eye. As a result, he became China's first payload expert on a manned mission, realizing his dream of flying into the sky.

"It is a blessing to be able to apply your professional knowledge and participate in the manned spaceflight industry. Staying curious and exploring the unknown is what drives me forward. Gui Haichao said with deep feelings.

The teenager has a dream of spaceflight

On October 2003, 10, astronaut Yang Liwei flew into the sky on the Shenzhou-15 spacecraft, and the dream of the Chinese nation to fly into the sky for a thousand years came true. At the time, Gui Haichao was in his second year of high school at Shidian County Middle School in Yunnan, and when he heard this exciting news on the campus radio, he began to yearn for flying into space.

But at that time, he did not expect that this sacred profession would be associated with him nearly 20 years later.

Since childhood, Gui Haichao has had a strong interest in science, and a set of "Encyclopedia of Chinese Children" was his most beloved popular science book in his youth. In this set of books, he learned a lot of introductory knowledge of aerospace, especially after seeing the touching deeds of Qian Xuesen, the "father of China's aerospace", who was committed to serving the country through space, Gui Haichao admired it endlessly, and also planted the seeds of aerospace in his heart.

With ideals in mind, learning is motivated. During the college entrance examination, Gui Haichao was admitted to the aircraft design and engineering major of the School of Astronautics of Beihang University with the first place in the county science subject.

In 9 years, Gui Haichao completed his doctoral studies all the way, and then went abroad to engage in postdoctoral research, and published nearly 20 SCI academic papers in top international journals with outstanding achievements.

Three years later, Gui Haichao returned with fruitful academic achievements, and many famous universities in China threw olive branches to him. In the end, Gui Haichao chose to return to his alma mater and become an associate professor in the School of Astronautics.

In 2018, 31-year-old Gui Haichao served as a doctoral supervisor. Just when he was about to make a big career in his field, he was lucky to have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

One day in 2018, the whole hospital held a general meeting. At the meeting, the dean announced an exciting news - the country began to recruit the third batch of astronauts, unlike in the past, this time the selection of astronauts is divided into three types, namely: space pilots, space flight engineers and payload experts, among which space flight engineers and payload experts are selected from relevant universities and research institutes.

Hearing this news, Gui Haichao was very excited. While studying abroad, he heard that researchers can sign up for astronauts and enter the International Space Station to carry out scientific experiments. At that time, Gui Haichao was doing experiments while imagining: With the development of China's space technology, China's scientific researchers entering space will soon become a reality.

"If one day I can move the scientific research work I love to space." So meaningful! I must give it a try and put what I have learned over the years into practice. "My own fantasy became reality. Gui Haichao immediately signed up for the load expert.

At 5 o'clock on May 29, three astronauts, Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao, met with Chinese and foreign media reporters at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Photo by Wang Jiangbo

The process of accepting the challenge is fun

After passing layers of rigorous selection, Gui Haichao joined the third batch of astronauts in China as a payload expert.

The third group of astronauts was fortunate that they caught up with the intensive mission of the space station stage, giving everyone a full stage and opportunity.

Luck doesn't mean their training standards will be lowered. They have a lot of training content, high training intensity, tight training progress, and relatively great challenges. For Gui Haichao, compared with the astronauts selected from the Air Force pilot team, his physical fitness and aerospace skills training foundation are slightly thinner.

Physical fitness used to be Gui Haichao's weakness, and through his own exploration, he realized a set of methods: training step by step, strengthening training for his weaknesses. Long-distance running, standing on one foot with closed eyes, step tests and other old and difficult physical training events have finally changed from good to excellent.

In centrifuge training, the selection criteria for space flight engineers and payload experts are 6G overloads, which is lower than the space pilot standards. However, after joining the team, all training standards must reach the overload of 8G, and this 2G gap is also a difficult trek for Gui Haichao.

During the first training, Gui Haichao felt that his chest and abdomen were firmly pressed, and with every breath, his chest felt torn and his heart rate was high.

Gui Haichao was extremely dissatisfied with his performance. After the training, he consulted with experienced brothers. Gui Haichao, who loves to ponder, also found out the crux of his poor performance - due to mental tension, physical fitness, and insufficient skills, resulting in breathing confrontation movements that cannot be done properly.

To this end, he continued to correct in future exercises, not only overcoming the gap of 2G, but also improving his training performance from level <> to level <>.

During the swivel chair training, he had some discomfort at first, sweating, nausea, and dizziness. Gui Haichao, who did not admit defeat, chose to practice more and practice more attentively - practicing for 20 minutes a day to "hit the ground and spin", grabbing the other ear with one hand and spinning in place. In this way, after practicing for a month or two, his training results also reached the first level.

GNC manual motion control practice is also a "big mountain" in front of Gui Haichao. This course simulates that after the attitude of the spacecraft is out of control, it is necessary to manually adjust the attitude by observing the movement of the ground scene to judge the attitude and correct operation.

At first, Gui Haichao was uncoordinated with his eyes and hands during operation, and he was often in a hurry. After instructing Chang Jing Haipeng to see it, he opened a small stove for him at the training site, helped him hand in hand, and constantly encouraged and gave confidence. After Gui Haichao got started, Jing Haipeng began to be strict with him, cut details, take actual combat as the standard, and strive for excellence. With the help of the commander, Gui Haichao practiced as soon as he had time, and finally "gnawed" this "hard bone".

The 72-hour sleep deprivation experiment tests the limits of human tolerance and psychological compatibility. Gui Haichao, Zhu Yangzhu and another comrade-in-arms were in a group, and through the cooperation of three people, they used head-scratching artifacts, told jokes, set time progress bars, reminded each other, and cheered together, defeated sleepy insects and overcame the psychological barriers caused by a small confined environment. Through this training, Gui Haichao has more confidence in carrying out long-term manned missions.

Survival training in the wild is also a fun challenge for astronauts. After becoming astronauts, they conducted a desert training in the Badain Jaran Desert.

His group walked into the desert that morning, just in time for a rain and a particularly cool climate. However, the boundless desert soon revealed its true cruel side.

At noon, after they set up their tents, the sunlight shone through the double-decker tent and hit the skin with hot pain, and the thermometer burst. They caught up with the wild sand dance, and their faces, bodies, and mouths were full of sand.

Water, the most important resource for survival in the desert, tried to obtain water by various methods. Collect rainwater, dew, and even water in urine.

There is joy in suffering. On that day, they had a windfall when they collected abundant rainwater in the porthole of the return cabin. Suddenly, they became a wealthy "big household" and cooked a steaming beef soup around a campfire.

At night, Gui Haichao is on duty, monitoring the ambient temperature, humidity and wind speed, lying in the desert and looking at the starry sky. He remembered that a few years ago, when he was still doing research on spaceflight-related topics on a college campus, the three words astronaut were mysterious and distant to him, and in the near future, he would fly to the deep and mysterious starry sky.

At 5 o'clock on May 29, three astronauts, Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao, met with Chinese and foreign media reporters at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The picture shows astronaut Gui Haichao. Photo by Wang Jiangbo

Explore the unknown flying journey

In June 2022, Gui Haichao was determined to carry out the Shenzhou 6 mission. He felt very lucky to be able to carry out the mission with Jing Haipeng, who flew into the sky three times.

In 2008, when Jing Haipeng flew the Shenzhou <> mission, he was still a senior student. At that time, he could only look up deeply to Jing Haipeng. I didn't expect that a few years later, I would be able to carry out a mission with the flying heroes.

Gui Haichao cherishes this opportunity very much, but it is also full of pressure. In order to gain his confidence, he began to make a study plan and worked overtime at night for intensive training.

This mission is the first manned flight of China's manned space project after entering a new stage of application and development of the space station, and will undertake very heavy space science experiment/experimental tasks, and will be the manned mission with the largest number of on-orbit test experimental projects.

As a load expert in the crew, Gui Haichao undertook many experimental projects. These experimental fields span a large range, the number of loads inside and outside the cabin, many experimental items, precise experimental equipment and experimental cabinets, high maintenance and repair operation requirements, and meticulous and accurate operation.

During the training, Gui Haichao not only had to know the facts, know the operation process, but also know why he did it. After more than two years of hard training, under the grinding again and again and the high standards and strict requirements of the commander, Gui Haichao's confidence has become more and more sufficient.

"Are you ready?"

Before flying into space, in the face of this question raised by the reporter, Gui Haichao said very confidently: "As of today, I feel that I am ready technically, physically, and psychologically, and I am confident to meet the challenges of this mission!" ”

You don't know what to do. After two years and three months of training, and countless operations in ground simulators, Gui Haichao is very much looking forward to going to the real Chinese space station, to experience and explore the unknown, to experience the feeling of working and living in a real weightless environment in space. Of course, he is looking forward to enjoying the beautiful earth from the perspective of the universe, appreciating the deep space, and then letting his mind fly and imagine in the vast universe.

After becoming an astronaut, Gui Haichao often had a dream that he drove a spaceship between various asteroids and through black holes... Now, his dream boat, his journey of discovery, is about to begin. (End)