Beijing, 9 Sep (ZXS) -- The "Doctoral Crew" Holds the First Space Lecture The Chinese Space Station staged a "table tennis" competition

China News Agency reporter Ma Shuaisha

What kind of magical phenomena will you see in space site candles? Can you still play table tennis with water polo in space? On September 9, the "Tiangong Classroom" was launched again after nearly a year, and the Shenzhou 21 "Doctoral Crew" Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao taught in space for the first time, bringing students a number of interesting experiments such as spherical flames and wonderful "ping pong balls" in the new "Space Classroom" Mengtian Experiment Module.

On September 9, the fourth lesson of "Tiangong Classroom" was officially opened on the Chinese Space Station, and Shenzhou 21 astronauts Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao gave a lecture, which was the first time that Chinese astronauts taught in the Mengtian experimental module. This space teaching activity continued to be carried out in a space-ground interactive manner, with a total of 5 ground classrooms including Beihang University. The three astronauts introduced the working and living scenes of the Mengtian experimental module of the Chinese space station in orbit, demonstrated the spherical flame experiment, the wonderful "ping pong" experiment, the momentum conservation experiment and the gyro experiment, and interacted with the ground classroom. The picture shows students watching the wonderful "table tennis" experiment at Beihang University. Photo by China News Agency reporter Yi Haifei

The first space lecture after the full completion of the Chinese space station

Thirty-one years ago today, China's manned space project was officially implemented. On the "birthday" of China's manned space project, the first space lecture after the full completion of the Chinese space station was carried out, which made this "Tiangong Classroom" more meaningful.

The event featured five ground classes, with about 5,2800 student representatives participating in the event. Among them, the Beijing ground classroom is located in Beihang University (hereinafter referred to as "Beihang"), which is also the school where Gui Haichao works. On the same day, many Beihang students came to the scene to listen to the lecture of the "space teacher".

Wang Shijie, a student of Gui Haichao, said in an interview before class: "If you have the opportunity to ask questions, I want to ask Teacher Gui whether he is happy living in the sky, and has he had a new understanding of the direction of aerospace dynamics control in the microgravity environment for so long?" ”

"After so many days, I finally met my mentor via video link." Su Wenjie, another student of Gui Haichao and a doctoral student at Beihang School of Astronautics, said that after graduation, she plans to follow in the footsteps of Teacher Gui and devote herself to the aerospace industry, "I hope to have the opportunity to fly again in the spacecraft we designed in the future." ”

The "Space Classroom" is new

When the picture of the Chinese space station appeared on the large screen of the scene, everyone couldn't help but marvel. When the three astronauts "flew" in front of the camera in turn, the students waved the national flag in their hands and greeted them.

This is the fourth space teaching on the Chinese space station, the previous three were taught in the Tianhe core module and the Wentian experimental module, and this time the Chinese astronauts "unlocked" a "new classroom" Mengtian experimental module. As soon as it began, the Shenzhou 16 crew couldn't wait to show everyone this "new classroom". Here can not only realize the automatic exit of goods, but also concentrate the most scientific experiment equipment of the Chinese space station, the "space alchemy furnace" high-temperature material science experiment cabinet that studies the preparation of new materials, the ultra-cold atomic physics experiment cabinet in the coldest place of the space station, and the online maintenance and adjustment operation cabinet of the "maintenance factory" of the space station...

Zhu Yangzhu said that the temperature of the high-temperature material science experiment cabinet can be as high as 1600 degrees Celsius, and the first batch of materials prepared by the high-temperature test in this "alchemy furnace" has returned to the ground with the Shenzhou <> astronauts.

"Tiangong" staged a "table tennis" competition

Seeing the combustion science experiment cabinet in the space station, some students wondered, "How is combustion in microgravity different from the ground?" To answer the students' questions more intuitively, the astronauts took out a candle and carefully lit it. Unlike the conical flame on the ground, the space station's candle always has an approximately spherical blue flame no matter which direction it is facing.

Taking everyone to appreciate the magical phenomenon of "space flame", the astronauts immediately staged a space "table tennis" competition. Gui Haichao skillfully made a small water ball and gently "throw" it, Zhu Yangzhu waved the ping-pong racket wrapped in a towel, hit it gently, and saw that after the water ball touched the surface of the towel, not only did it not break, it was not absorbed, but was bounced off like a ping-pong ball. After a simple warm-up, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao played a game back and forth, and the interaction between the two astronauts caused laughter on the spot.

In the live space class, the ground classroom students were full of curiosity about the space station and asked the astronauts, "Can you see space junk on the space station?" "How is it different to see the Earth and the Sun from the space station?" "There is no obvious reference object in space, how can astronauts judge the attitude and orbit changes of the space station?" ......

"Space junk does exist, and like everyone, we are very curious and often look for it through the windows of the space station, and we have not found any trace of it so far." Jing Haipeng said that researchers will always keep an eye on them, if they pose a threat, the space station will actively evade, at the same time, the space station also "wears" special protective equipment, like armor, even if encountered, astronauts will be safe.

The 48-minute space science popularization class has made many students unfulfilled, and has quietly sown the seeds of space dreams for teenagers. As Zhu Yangzhu said, "because of the space dream, his dream of flying in the sky has been realized", and the Chinese space station, which will be in orbit for at least 10 years in the future, is waiting for more newcomers to arrive 400 kilometers away. (End)