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On July 5, 2024, two months after returning from space, Shenzhou 17 astronauts Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin officially met with the media and the public at the China Astronaut Center.

Commander Tang Hongbo was a member of the first astronaut crew to carry out the space station phase flight mission and witnessed the historic moment of "the first time a Chinese entered his own space station". Two years later, he became the first person to return to the "Tiangong".

Reporter: You will miss the space station after you come back, right?

Tang Hongbo: Yes, because that is our cause and the goal we are striving for. After everything is over, when you successfully and safely return to the embrace of the motherland, you will feel that the place is still very beautiful.

Tang Shengjie is the youngest astronaut currently carrying out space station missions, and he completed his first space trip when he was less than 34 years old.

Reporter: Have you dreamed about your work in heaven in the past two months?

Tang Shengjie: Yes, sometimes I often dream of myself floating, and suddenly I find my hands like this. When I am dreaming, my hands suddenly droop down like this, and I scare myself.

Reporter: Have you ever dreamed of drooping down in heaven?

Tang Shengjie: Not really. Sometimes when I wake up in heaven, I find my arms stretched out like this, and sometimes I get scared.

Jiang Xinlin has driven tanks and fighter jets, and now he has flown a spacecraft into space. Netizens jokingly call him "Beta" and "Shuke", and then an astronaut.

Jiang Xinlin: I feel that I am lucky in these key points, but what I want to say is that you must be down-to-earth and do your current work well. When you have the opportunity, you must not give up, do not be afraid, and dare to fight and give it a try.

The Shenzhou 17 crew stayed in the Chinese space station for 187 days, breaking the record for the crew's time in orbit. This is also the first time that my country's flight crew is composed of astronauts from the second and third batches. Commander Tang Hongbo is a member of my country's second batch of astronauts, and Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin are both space pilots from my country's third batch of astronauts.

At 11:14 on October 26, 2023, Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin boarded the Shenzhou 17 manned spacecraft to the Chinese space station.

At 19:34, the Shenzhou 16 astronaut crew successfully opened the "door of home" and welcomed the Shenzhou 17 astronaut crew who came from afar to settle in the "Tiangong".

Reporter: What had changed when you went there again?

Tang Hongbo: It feels very new. It feels the same as when we evacuated, except that the space of the space station has become larger and the sense of technology is stronger. In the past, the Tiangong space station was probably a straight line with the Shenzhou spacecraft, the Tiangong space station core module, and the cargo spacecraft. Now it has branches, and it is divided into two sides at the node module, one side is Wentian and the other side is Mengtian, so the space is very large. When we went up to meet, we first met in the Tianhe core module. As soon as I entered, I felt like I was back home, very familiar and intimate.

Reporter: This is your first time to carry out a mission on the space station. What impressed you most about this first time?

Tang Shengjie: I think it takes a while to get into orbit. And the illusion of space will be more obvious, just like when we stand upside down on the ground, we can stand upside down for one or two minutes, but if you stand upside down for a day or two, it will be very uncomfortable, especially when you just enter the sleeping area. From the layout inside, you feel like you are lying down. But the most uncomfortable moment is when you open the door, and you find yourself hanging upside down.

This mission carried out the first extravehicular maintenance operation on the space station.

The Shenzhou 17 mission is the 30th mission since the manned space program was launched, and the 12th manned mission. The biggest difference between this mission and previous ones is that it is the first space station extravehicular maintenance operation. At present, space debris is increasing, and it is inevitable that long-term spacecraft will be hit by tiny particles in space. Preliminary inspections found that the solar panels of the space station had been hit by tiny particles in space many times, causing minor damage. At that time, the Shenzhou 17 astronaut crew was still training on the ground, and according to the plan, the task of extravehicular maintenance fell on them.

Reporter: As soon as your crew left the cabin, they had to face some practical problems that arose during the operation, right?

Tang Hongbo: Actually, we had originally planned to go out of the spacecraft to complete some other tasks this time, but because the space station was in orbit, the tiny debris hit the solar panels, causing the power generation capacity to drop.

Reporter: Can it be ignored, or should it be repaired as early as possible?

Tang Hongbo: The sooner the better, so we had to go out of the cabin to repair it. Because you don't know where the space debris comes from, where it hits, and what the consequences will be after it hits. Shenzhou 16 was able to take photos based on the ground's prompts and use some optical equipment to find that there was indeed a hole, so we had to go out of the cabin to repair it.

The solar wing is like the solar panel of the space station, which is responsible for receiving solar energy and providing electricity to the space station. Whether the solar wing functions properly is related to the normal operation of the space station. The flexible solar wing equipped by the Chinese space station is specially designed in a modular way to take into account the impact of tiny particles. It is composed of many independent solar cells. Even if one of them is broken, it will not affect the overall power supply. The first step in maintenance is to confirm the location and cause of the fault.

Tang Hongbo: The solar wing is quite far away from the cabin. If you are not sure that it is this point and it hits this point, affecting its power generation capacity, it is difficult to judge because there may be other points that are hit. It is not necessarily the case that I took a picture of a small dot or a small hole and it is this place. It may also be affected by other places.

Reporter: How many possible points are there?

Tang Hongbo: Yes, our scientists on the ground can analyze which part is damaged, how much power it has dropped, and how we should repair it, because when you repair it, it is possible that the same situation will occur on the ground. If the original part is not repaired, other good parts will be damaged. This is very likely. Therefore, the decision-making process, formulation of the plan, and formulation of the tools are very critical.

Reporter: When you were carrying out this extravehicular mission, did you actually already know very clearly where the problem was, or did you want to verify whether the problem was there by going out of the spacecraft?

Tang Hongbo: We know very clearly where the problem lies, including the ground plan and tool design, because there are no ready-made tools. And the gloves of the space suit are slightly thicker because the temperature difference between the cabin and the outside world may be hundreds of degrees Celsius. Ordinary tools cannot be used at all, so we have to design special tools. It is not certain whether the specially designed tools are easy to use and can achieve the expected purpose.

In order to simulate the space environment, Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin practiced underwater several times.

Reporter: For everything that 01 did, do 02 and 03 have to do it when you are on earth?

Jiang Xinlin: Yes, they complement each other. I think I am relatively good at mechanics, because I learned some knowledge about mechanics in college. The tools we use for extravehicular maintenance are all mechanical, so I can get started faster.

The first extravehicular activity was well prepared

When the Shenzhou 17 was launched, maintenance tools and a solar wing sail were carried on board the spacecraft.

Tang Hongbo: This tool is specially designed. I have never used it in space, so I don't know if it works well. I have been familiar with it, studying it, practicing it, and figuring out how to use it in space. I also put on a real pressure suit to increase the pressure, so that I can practice one-to-one. I also specifically proposed that we should bring a solar wing sail to simulate in the cabin, so that we can simulate the problems I will face after leaving the cabin as realistically as possible.

On December 21, 2023, Shenzhou 17 was preparing for its first extravehicular activity. Before the extravehicular activity, Tang Hongbo and Tang Shengjie conducted a lot of simulation training.

Tang Hongbo: Because there is an airlock for EVA, once the door is closed, you only need to prepare everything. If you are not well prepared, you will not be able to complete the mission. Because you lack a tool, you cannot complete the mission. It is not like the ground, where you are asked to hand me a tool and you quickly go and buy a tool. If you don’t have one, you may have to start all over again, open the door and do it all over again. So the complexity of EVA lies in the strictness of the procedure. We are one body between heaven and earth, and we must keep this checkpoint well. This is the complexity and challenge.

At 14:10 on December 21, 2023, Tang Hongbo opened the hatch of the weather cabin. During the extravehicular activity of Shenzhou XII two years ago, Tang Hongbo climbed the cabin wall independently. This time, he climbed on the robotic arm. Under the support of the robotic arm, Tang Hongbo was transferred to the relevant operation point of the solar wing of the Tianhe core module.

Tang Shengjie, who later left the cabin, climbed and transferred autonomously on the cabin wall, assisted in observation, and cooperated with Tang Hongbo in extravehicular operations. Jiang Xinlin performed support work in the core module, mainly responsible for the operation of the robotic arm.

Reporter: What kind of help can you give him on the scene?

Tang Shengjie: I would watch every step of his operation carefully. If the operation was different from our previous training, I would remind him in time. If I had any problems, there was 03 in the cabin and 01 outside. He would give me some corresponding prompts. So when I was climbing the cabin, including when I was standing there watching him, I felt very confident.

Jiang Xinlin: Our repair task is to drill three holes on the solar wing sail panels to cut off the damaged circuit and prevent short circuits.

Since solar panels are power generation and supply equipment, they will generate current under sunlight, which will affect operational safety. Therefore, maintenance work can only be carried out in the shadow area. The space station orbits the earth approximately every 90 minutes, and the most suitable window for operation in the shadow area is only more than 20 minutes.

Extravehicular maintenance operations involve approximately 20 to 30 actions, which require extremely high precision in the astronauts' operations and their proficiency in the use of tools.

Tang Shengjie: His operation was perfect, exactly the same as the training on the ground and in the air. But there were some situations that we had never encountered before. We were very anxious at that time. We were very anxious and there was nothing we could do. Normally, we could open the hole in three strokes. Our contingency plan at that time was that if we couldn't open it, we could only wait for the next shadow area.

At this moment, this is not only a test of the technical ability of the astronauts, but also a challenge of their courage and determination.

Reporter: If you don't complete the 20 minutes of shadow zone time given to you in this round, how long will you have to wait?

Tang Hongbo: Wait for more than an hour.

Reporter: Can you do something else during this hour?

Tang Hongbo: It can’t be done.

Reporter: Then we can only wait.

Tang Hongbo: We could only wait here. Everyone was waiting here, including the ground control personnel, the command personnel, the sea control personnel, and the astronauts in the sky. If you delay for a long time, you will get anxious. After several failures, we did not achieve the expected effect. At that time, I proposed a plan. I would apply pressure to it with my hands, and apply another pressure in addition to the tool. The original design did not need to be supported. The ground command personnel also responded quickly to my proposal and agreed. We followed this new plan and finally got it done.

According to the procedure, maintenance operations must be carried out while the ground is being checked. After the operation is completed, it is also necessary to determine whether the maintenance work has met expectations, which will increase the number of steps and links.

Reporter: When you encounter a new problem, time becomes tight. If you still hope to complete and solve the new problem within a limited time, there must be a countdown stage. At this time, does anyone tell you how long the countdown is and how many minutes you have left?

Tang Hongbo: No, we cooperated very well with the heaven and earth. After completing one action, we performed another one, very smoothly.

Reporter: But who will judge how much time has passed? How much time is left?

Tang Hongbo: Anyway, this is our habit. We should go all out to do the work at hand. It is just like when we play basketball, we cannot just stare at the scoreboard. What we need is to focus and go all out. If the ground does not stop, I will keep working and do my best to complete the task at full speed.

The moment Tang Hongbo removed the maintenance tools from the solar wing, the sun was rising, exactly to the second.

At 21:35 on December 21, 2023, after about 7.5 hours of extravehicular activities, Shenzhou 17 astronauts Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie, and Jiang Xinlin worked closely together and completed the Tianhe core module solar wing repair test and other scheduled tasks with the support of the space station's robotic arm and ground researchers. Tang Hongbo still remembers a detail during the mission.

Tang Hongbo: I was standing at the end of the robotic arm, and I was closest to the solar wing. However, the solar wing was flexible and had a certain degree of bending. I couldn't reach it at first, but it pulled it slightly towards my body. I felt so magical that I could pull the solar wing and operate it in space.

Reporter: What is that feeling like?

Tang Hongbo: It's full of technology and pride. I'm very excited. I was actually a kid from a mountain village. I grew up in the countryside, planting rice. In the summer, the water in the rice fields in Hunan was very hot, maybe 50 or 60 degrees Celsius. I couldn't even put my feet in because it was so hot. When I was in junior high school and high school, I had to plant rice during the summer vacation. It was very hot and uncomfortable. I thought, if there was a cloud in the sky to block the sun, it would be great. But I didn't expect that I would have the opportunity to go to space and repair the solar wing. This is a huge leap, and I feel it's amazing.

Tang Hongbo: Always believe in the power of persistence

Tang Hongbo was born in Xiangtan County, Hunan Province in 1975. The boy who once looked up at the sky in the rice fields would never have thought that he would be able to overlook his hometown from space one day. In the fall of 1995, a recruitment notice on campus made Tang Hongbo excited. The Air Force Flight Academy was recruiting flight cadets. After layers of selection, Tang Hongbo was successfully admitted. When he graduated and was assigned a job, in order to get more flying opportunities, he gave up the inland and chose to fly a fighter jet in the northwest desert.

Tang Hongbo: After Shenzhou V was launched, I read in the news that astronauts were selected from pilots. One of my friends told me that maybe I could become an astronaut in the future. I said it was impossible. But I had a seed in my mind, or a concept. Later, when I had the opportunity, I thought I must try and strive for it.

In 2009, my country began recruiting and selecting the second batch of astronauts. At this time, Tang Hongbo, who was already the flight captain, signed up without hesitation.

Tang Hongbo: When I was being selected, I went all out, rested early every day, prepared myself well, and asked doctors and teachers on site what the requirements of this experiment and this selection project were? What were the standards? How could I do better? I took every step down-to-earth. I may not have thought of becoming a pilot or an astronaut at the beginning. But when the opportunity came, I went all out to do this little thing I had to do every day.

In 2010, 35-year-old Tang Hongbo became one of my country's second batch of astronauts. On June 17, 2021, the Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft was successfully launched, which was also Tang Hongbo's first space trip. For this moment, he prepared for 11 years and more than 4,000 days and nights. This time, he returned to space only two years later.

Tang Hongbo: I actually like a saying, which is to always believe in the power of persistence. In fact, we still have to have dreams. With the development of the times and the rapid development of science and technology, maybe they can really come true.

Tang Shengjie: From Mountain Road to Space

Tang Shengjie's hometown, Gansu, has long been known for the legend of Dunhuang flying fairies. In December 1989, Tang Shengjie was born in a small village on the Loess Plateau in Longzhong. When he was old enough to go to school, Tang Shengjie had to walk for two hours because his home was far from the school. This long journey to school took Tang Shengjie eight years.

Tang Shengjie: I started school when I was 6 years old, and I walked until I was in junior high school. Because I was very young, and the mountain road was winding, it took nearly two hours to walk. I didn’t go home at noon, but ate at school and didn’t go home until the evening. But I didn’t feel tired at that time. Now I see that my child is also 6 years old, but I think if I let him walk such a long distance when he was 6 years old, I might not have made up my mind.

Reporter: Why were you able to walk down at that time?

Tang Shengjie: Because many people around me have taken this step by step.

Reporter: Have you ever thought about being lazy?

Tang Shengjie: No, I really liked going to school at that time because my friends were there.

Influenced by his two cousins ​​who were in the army, it had always been Tang Shengjie's dream to join the army. Coincidentally, in his senior year of high school, an air force pilot recruitment site was set up in his school, and he signed up without hesitation after passing by. After hundreds of rigorous physical examinations and multiple rounds of screening, in 2008, Tang Shengjie got his wish and received an admission letter from the Air Force Aviation University.

To transform from a flight trainee to a pilot, one needs to go through multiple assessments, with an elimination rate of 70%. In order not to be eliminated, Tang Shengjie memorized various flight methods, data, and operating essentials, and practiced each subject over and over again until it formed muscle memory. In this way, Tang Shengjie successfully passed the assessments again and again and became a fighter pilot.

Over the past 10 years, Tang Shengjie has flown all over the country, with more than 1,000 hours of safe flight, and was rated as a first-class pilot of the Air Force. In September 2020, Tang Shengjie was successfully selected as a member of the third batch of astronauts, realizing his dream of upgrading from the sky to space.

Reporter: If the first and second batches of astronauts go through a 10-year training process, what do you think I would have to pay more for if I want to meet the same standards as them?

Tang Shengjie: At that time, I felt that I had to rush forward, rush forward desperately, and I didn't leave myself any way out. If others took a break after class, then I couldn't rest. I had to read more relevant knowledge. I heard that astronauts rarely sleep before 12 o'clock. I experienced it myself. It's really necessary to do that to realize my dream.

In June 2022, Tang Shengjie was selected to join the crew of the Shenzhou 17 manned flight mission. Two years of hard training finally earned him a ticket to space.

Reporter: Actually, your predecessors’ 10 or 20 years were limited by the times, because there really weren’t that many opportunities. You guys caught up, and it became a daily shift.

Tang Shengjie: We joke that the space station is permanent, but the astronauts are transient.

Jiang Xinlin: An astronaut who can drive tanks and airplanes

At 5:40 on March 2, 2024, Jiang Xinlin opened the hatch of the weather cabin and boarded the robotic arm to travel in space. From tanks to fighter jets to space stations, Jiang Xinlin's life is flying higher and higher. In 1988, Jiang Xinlin was born in a rural family in Qi County, Kaifeng, Henan. In the summer after the high school entrance examination, in order to reduce the burden on his parents, Jiang Xinlin followed his brother to work outside.

Jiang Xinlin: I remember it very clearly. At a railway station, they wanted to build a toilet on the original site, so we dug the foundation there. I was the youngest at the time.

Reporter: Since you are so young, what can you do on the construction site?

Jiang Xinlin: I was just like them, digging the soil from the foundation with a shovel and turning it up. I had a lot of energy, but I couldn't keep up. Finally, I thought of a way. When I was too tired, my hands were sore, and I couldn't lift my arms, I would go to the toilet, wash my face, and come back to work. I didn't eat well, and I slept under a small mosquito net. When I woke up every day, the mosquito net was full of mosquitoes.

In order to change his fate, Jiang Xinlin decided to study hard after returning home. At that time, his eldest sister was studying in Wuhan University, and his second sister, who took the college entrance examination in the same year as him, did not perform well and wanted to repeat a year. The family's financial situation was already stretched, so Jiang Xinlin applied for a military academy, which not only reduced the burden on his family, but also enabled him to realize his dream of becoming a soldier. In 2006, Jiang Xinlin was successfully admitted to the PLA Armored Forces Engineering Academy.

When he was about to graduate, an unexpected opportunity suddenly came. The Air Force was recruiting pilots from military academies all over the country. After hearing the news, Jiang Xinlin decided to fly to a wider sky. He was admitted to the Air Force Aviation University and became a flight student.

Reporter: Why did you go to this military academy? It was because you wanted to reduce the burden on your family. If you think about it from this starting point, you should have found a safe way to move forward, but you didn't. You started to pursue your own dreams.

Jiang Xinlin: My eldest sister had just graduated from university and was already working. The family's financial situation had gradually improved, and she didn't have too many worries, so she wanted to try her best.

Reporter: Being in two completely different fields means that when others are starting to build their careers, you have to start learning from scratch again. Are you willing to do that?

Jiang Xinlin: Yes, I do. I don't regret it now. Because the profession of a pilot is like dancing on the edge of a knife, which is more challenging. I like to do some challenging projects.

During his 10-year flying career, Jiang Xinlin has safely flown for more than 1,000 hours and was rated as a first-class pilot in the Air Force. When my country launched the third batch of astronaut selection, Jiang Xinlin signed up again and was successfully selected. In June 2022, Jiang Xinlin successfully passed the assessment and was selected to join the Shenzhou 17 manned flight mission crew.

During the second extravehicular activity of Shenzhou 17, Jiang Xinlin was transferred to the work point under the support of the robotic arm. Tang Hongbo moved autonomously on the cabin wall to cooperate with Jiang Xinlin in extravehicular operations, while Tang Shengjie operated the robotic arm in the core module to provide support.

Reporter: What did you repair the second time?

Jiang Xinlin: These were two missions. When our commander went out of the cabin for the first time, he punched two holes in the solar wing sail. My second mission was to use the robotic arm to punch a hole in the solar wing sail and then cut off a broken cable on the solar wing box.

In order to complete the task well, Jiang Xinlin practiced the action of putting on the robotic arm foot limiter when leaving the cabin many times in the cabin.

Based on the first maintenance test, the second EVA focused on completing the maintenance work on the solar panels of the Tianhe core module and repairing the impact caused by the impact of tiny particles in space in the early stage.

Reporter: After Tang Hongbo encountered that emergency situation, when you do this job the second time, will you not face the same problems and difficulties as he did the first time?

Jiang Xinlin: Based on the experience of the first commander, we repeatedly deliberated and communicated with the ground, and we came up with a solution, which is to press the blade with hand. We have also trained in this method in the cabin, and it is feasible to use this method.

After evaluation and analysis, the solar wing power generation performance is normal. During the EVA, the astronauts also inspected the status of the space station cabin. After about 8 hours of EVA, at 13:32 on March 2, 2024, Shenzhou 17 astronauts Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie, and Jiang Xinlin worked closely together, and with the support of the space station's robotic arm and ground scientific researchers, completed all the established tasks, and the EVA was a complete success. This is the first time in the history of China's manned spaceflight that a maintenance mission for extravehicular facilities of an in-orbit spacecraft has been completed, which has important scientific research and practical significance.

In addition to completing two extravehicular missions, the Shenzhou 17 crew also carried out 84 space application on-orbit experiments and generated more than 200 samples of more than 60 types. On March 14, 2024, the Shenzhou 17 crew worked closely with ground researchers to successfully complete the retrieval of the first batch of extravehicular exposure experiment material samples.

Tang Hongbo: We were shocked when we took it back. Such a big box had been exposed outside the cabin for a long time, and its reactions were all different. In fact, some of them are for the future lunar or deep space exploration, or for the design of other spacecraft to conduct some material experiments. I think this thing is very good.

When carrying out the Shenzhou XII flight mission, Tang Hongbo brought sweet potatoes aboard the space station as his personal belongings. This time, the space station already had a space cultivation device called the "space vegetable garden."

Tang Hongbo: The current space vegetable garden has a set of processes, including watering, fertilizing, sowing, and temperature and humidity. This is a feature of our manned space flight. It may have been just an idea at first, but through continuous iterations, the space vegetable garden will get better and better and bigger.

On April 26, 2024, the Shenzhou 17 astronaut crew successfully opened the "door" to welcome the Shenzhou 18 astronaut crew from afar to settle in the "Tiangong". Along with them came several special members - zebrafish. The Shenzhou 18 crew will carry out the first domestic on-orbit aquatic ecology research project.

Tang Hongbo: When the fish first goes up, it doesn't swim around like it does on the ground, and it can't tell east from west, south from north, so it swims with its belly turned upside down and eats food. If it were on the ground, it would probably not survive if it turned its belly upside down, but in space we know it also gets dizzy, which is quite interesting.

After living with the Shenzhou 18 crew for 5 days, Shenzhou 17 bid farewell to the space station and set off for Earth at 08:43 on April 30, 2024. At 17:46, the spacecraft's return capsule successfully landed at the Dongfeng landing site. The Shenzhou 17 manned flight mission was a complete success.

After the return of the Shenzhou 17 crew, they have completed the isolation recovery and convalescence recovery phases and have fully entered the recovery observation phase. After completing the recovery period and conducting a health recovery assessment, the three astronauts will return to normal training.

Reporter: You were able to return to the space station for the second time, and it happened very quickly. What is your next dream? Since we are about to land on the moon, do you dare to think about it?

Tang Hongbo: According to my usual thinking, I would definitely not tell others that I have such an idea, but in fact, you said that you don’t have such an idea. This should be the dream of every astronaut and every Chinese, "reaching the moon". In a digital scene, I took a photo of me standing on the moon and looking at the earth. That is also my dream. Therefore, it is the happiness and luck of every ordinary person to be in such an era of change, an era of rapid technological development, and an era of national prosperity.

Column Editor: Qin Hong Text Editor: Da Xi Title Image Source: Xinhua News Agency Picture Editor: Xu Jiamin

Source: Author: CCTV News Client