China Launched Shenzhou 17 Crew To Tiangong Space Station
A Long March 2F rocket launched Shenzhou 17 taikonauts Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin to the Tiangong space station from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
Credit: China Central Television (CCTV)
Credit: China Central Television (CCTV)
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TechTranscript
00:00 Professor Liu is getting nervous. I can't reveal that.
00:07 [Countdown]
00:14 Ignition.
00:17 Take off.
00:21 [Countdown]
00:34 [Countdown]
00:46 Over the past two decades since China sent its first Hikonot,
00:49 the new U.S.B. radar has been on the scene.
00:52 The signal is normal.
00:54 This is the 12th mission carrying the youngest ever Shenzhou crew
00:59 since the construction of the China S-300 space station.
01:04 So this vehicle comes from the camera of the man mounted on the second stage of the rocket
01:09 and looking backwards so we can see the two boosters.
01:12 These cameras are so important. They bring us a real-time scenario,
01:16 real-time monitoring of what is going on with the rocket to see its trajectory
01:21 and to really visualize how that flight is going. I think it's super important.
01:26 I think at this moment you can see the direction has already changed.
01:29 So the pitch over has already been successfully conducted.
01:32 And the next critical step will be the jettisoning of the emergency escape tower.
01:41 And how much further into the flight will that happen, the jettisoning of the escape tower?
01:46 The escape tower. About 100 seconds also.
01:52 100 seconds. That's about a minute 40 seconds into the flight.
01:57 We could see the separation, the jettisoning of the emergency escape tower.
02:02 I believe at this moment it's already supersonic and already passed what we call the max Q,
02:08 which means the maximum air dynamic forces to the launch vehicle.
02:14 I mean this is something the Taikonauts would have experienced in their training also.
02:20 OK, jettisoned.
02:22 OK, the escape tower has now been jettisoned.
02:24 And the next critical step will be the separation of the four boosters.
02:28 About two minutes.
02:30 About two minutes into the flight we will see the boosters.
02:35 We also heard voice that all the ground stations tracking very normally,
02:39 either the optical telescopes and the readers.
02:44 I love hearing them. I love hearing them report that everything is going on smoothly.
02:49 Everything is normal.
02:51 They have a very calming, very soothing voice.
02:56 Great. The boosters have come off.
02:58 Four boosters. And also the first stage is separated.
03:02 The first stage has been separated?
03:04 Yeah. We have a camera on the rear part of the second stage
03:08 to monitor the working of the main engine of the second stage.
03:12 We have one main engine with a thrust of about 80 tons
03:16 and also four vernier engines to change the attitude of the launch vehicle.
03:24 So we can see the optical images based on the ground telescope.
03:29 Oh, this is what I mentioned, the video from the camera mounted on the rear part of the second stage.
03:34 We can see the big thrust is the main engine.
03:38 And this is the engine mounted inside the payload fairing.
03:41 So the next step will be the separation of the payload fairings.
03:45 Great.
03:47 Yes, that's the separation.
03:49 Now it's in the sunlight.
03:51 The astronauts inside the cabin can see the sunlight through the two windows.
03:59 Some of their predecessors used to play with pens once they reach zero gravity.
04:10 And the next step, after several minutes, will be the shutdown of the main engine.
04:16 But still the four vernier engines will continue working to adjust and make sure that it's precise enough.
04:23 I'm happy to see that the Tikonauts are doing fine.
04:29 They seem to be doing okay in their seats.
04:32 That's the Shenzhou 617 flying east route.
04:39 Along its trajectory we have the Weinan ground station in Shaanxi province.
04:46 And also we have the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center.
04:49 We also have a ground station.
04:51 So this stage will probably take a little bit longer.
04:58 Yes, exactly. And also you can see the background is the horizon of the Earth.
05:02 Very bright. They're already outside the atmosphere.
05:06 I mean all of these cameras, they withstand such high temperature.
05:09 They work magic.
05:12 Well, you know, there is a difference in the interval between the camera and the rocket engine.
05:17 So it's not in a very high temperature. It's still very safe.
05:20 Okay.
05:22 And you can see the small vernier engines just on the left.
05:25 So that vernier engine is used to change the attitude of the second stage.
05:32 Look at the Shenzhou 16 crew watching from the space station.
05:37 With the continuous working of the rocket engines,
05:42 because the propellants are becoming less and less,
05:44 and the acceleration will be greater and greater.
05:47 So they will feel the G-forces acting to their body are increasing at this moment.
05:52 So this is what they're going through at this point in the flight.
05:57 Okay, Qingdao station has already captured the flying object.
06:03 Qingdao is the last ground station to attack the combination.
06:10 Okay, so this is the part where the Taikonauts could feel a little bit more disconcerted in their seats.
06:21 But it's already better than in the atmosphere.
06:24 You see that in the atmosphere because of the international...
06:26 Oh, you can see the 3D animation.
06:29 We can see the links between the ground stations and the launch vehicle.
06:35 There are multiple ground stations tracking the launch vehicle.
06:40 And all of them are receiving the telemetry date,
06:43 which presents the current status of the launch vehicle.
06:46 So we can have a 3D animation.
06:49 I don't know if it's an animation, but it represents the real status of the flying objects.
06:55 You were saying, Professor, that at this point the Taikonauts are feeling a little bit better than...
07:00 Yes, experiencing the G-forces and also the vibration.
07:05 You can see that the main engine is still working.
07:08 But the next step will be the shutdown of the main engine.
07:15 Seven minutes have passed. Usually, the shutdown will happen about eight to nine minutes.
07:20 On the right bottom corner, the Shenzhou-16 crew is watching.
07:26 As I mentioned.
07:27 The Shenzhou-17 crew.
07:29 I mean, they must be very happy to welcome the Shenzhou-17 crew
07:34 because this will mean that their mission, their six-month-long mission, will soon come to an end.
07:39 They return to Earth on October 30th.
07:42 And it will be that happy meeting, happy handover.
07:50 They will welcome their new colleagues after six or seven hours.
07:55 With open arms, I'm sure.
07:58 So in six and a half hours or so, the spacecraft will be undocked and loaded.
08:05 Okay, the main engine is shut down.
08:07 The main engine has now shut down.
08:10 This means that the Shenzhou space ship is already in orbit.
08:15 But we will adjust its trajectory with four warning engines to make it more precise.
08:21 It is the minute they leave the ground that the astronauts will feel more uncomfortable.
08:31 Right now, it's getting more stabilized.
08:33 Exactly. Because the main engine has shut down, there is no greater G-forces acting on their body.
08:38 When we sit in the vehicles or airplanes, it's really acceleration.
08:44 That is having a big stress on us.
08:47 They take off and land in orbit.
08:49 So the next critical step will be the shutdown of the four warning engines.
08:52 And at this moment, as Professor Liu has mentioned, they will experience the zero-G.
08:57 And with this camera mounted on the second stage, looking forward,
09:02 it will monitor the separation of the Shenzhou space ship.
09:06 It will monitor the separation of the Shenzhou spacecraft from the carrier locket.
09:14 So just on the previous video, we can see, still we have the communication links
09:21 between the Qingdao station and the launch vehicle.
09:25 And Qingdao being the last ground station.
09:27 So the separation point is just above the Pacific Ocean, very close to the eastern coast of China.
09:33 Accurately speaking, near the Shandong province and Jiangsu province.
09:38 Changjiang 6 is what we call the Yuanwang 6 space tracking ship of China.
09:47 So it is now in the Pacific Ocean to be the last one to support the launch.
09:54 How many of these tracking ships do we have for this mission?
09:57 It depends on the orbit.
10:05 This is a key moment. The spacecraft has separated from the carrier locket.
10:10 Professor Yang, does that mean that Shenzhou 17 is now in its predetermined orbit?
10:15 We will have some checking whether the orbital parameters are accurate enough.
10:21 Only in these circumstances we can announce it is a successful launch.
10:24 Moreover, there are also two important steps.
10:28 One is the unfolding of the solar panels and also the deployment of the data relay satellite.
10:38 [Chinese]