Recently, the successful launch of Shenzhou 15, the news of the smooth return of Shenzhou 14 to the earth has caused widespread heated discussions at home and abroad, with the Shenzhou series of spacecraft in recent years continue to carry astronauts to the space station, to complete the verification of key technologies, China's Tiangong space station is about to be put into use, on the contrary, the International Space Station equipment is seriously aging, the service period is approaching, and this means that in the near future, China's space station will become the only operating space station in human low earth orbit.
It is not easy for China's aerospace industry to achieve today's achievements. In the history of China's aerospace industry, there is a hero who cannot be ignored. In 1964, when he was just starting out, he won the appreciation of the great scientist Qian Xuesen with his outstanding professional performance, and in 1979, he was strongly recommended by Qian Xuesen to take over the first position, and then started the journey of "winning general".
25 years later, he lived up to his expectations and became a hero of China's aerospace industry, and won the highest national science and technology award in the same year, winning a bonus of 5 million yuan. It can be said that he has witnessed the start and development of China's aerospace industry, and at the same time, the development history of China's aerospace industry can also be said to be his growth history, and he has contributed all what he has learned to China's aerospace industry. So who is he? What's the story?
In 1979, China was carrying out the research and development of the second-generation missile, and as the leader of the first-generation missile, Qian Xuesen had a very high prestige in the hearts of a group of scientists. However, to everyone's surprise, Qian Xuesen refused to take command and firmly proposed: "The first generation of missiles has a leader of the first generation, and when it is the turn of the second generation of missiles to develop, the second generation should be in charge." ”
As for this second-generation commander, Qian Xuesen has a candidate in his heart for a long time, and this person is Wang Yongzhi.
These words can be said to be the greatest affirmation of Wang Yongzhi's ability, with Qian Xuesen's international status at that time, being able to get his recommendation is enough to show that Wang Yongzhi is by no means simple. And the reason why Qian Xuesen recommended Wang Yongzhi so firmly also stemmed from Wang Yongzhi's "self-recommendation" many years ago.
In 1964, in order to break through the blockade of foreign countries as soon as possible and greatly improve its national defense capability, China gathered many scientific experts, including Qian Xuesen, Qian Sanqiang, Deng Jiaxian, etc., and returned scientists to devote themselves to national defense scientific research. In this group of people, the unfamiliar new faces are the most attractive to everyone's attention, but correspondingly, the suggestions made by the "new faces" are also the least likely to be trusted by everyone.
In June of that year, the 32-year-old Wang Yongzhi walked into the deserted Gobi Desert for the first time. Just in time for the launch of China's medium and short-range rockets, which is the first time that Chinese scientists have carried out the mission of launching the first medium- and short-range rockets designed by themselves, everyone is crossing the river by feeling the stones every day.
Sure enough, when the task was carried out at the most critical time, the problem appeared。According to the original design configuration, scientists calculated the thrust of the rocket, but found:The range turned out to be less than expectedAccording to the most conventional way of thinking, the range of the rocket is insufficient, and it would be nice to add more propellant, but at this point there is another fatal problem, because the rocket has a limited fuel tank, and it is no longer possible to "feed" more propellant.
In addition, it was the height of summer in June, and the weather was unusually hot, and the temperature of the propellant when the rocket was launched became higher, the density would be smaller, and the throttling characteristics of the engine would also change. In this way, there are too many uncertain factors, which affect the whole body, and if the range problem of the rocket cannot be well solved, the efforts of the early design configuration will be in vain, and even need to be reversed, which will be far beyond the scope of work in the launch mission stage.
In order to solve this problem, everyone sat around and kept discussing, while talking and picking up a pen to calculate, to verify, and finally everyone racked their brains and was anxious, but no one could come up with a perfect solution, and the atmosphere fell into a stagnation for a while, at this moment,A tall young lieutenant suddenly stood up, and he was Wang Yongzhi. Because he was a fresh face, he attracted everyone's attention as soon as he stood up, and his next words made everyone's jaws drop even more.
Looking at many experts who were more famous than himself sitting there, Wang Yongzhi did not have stage fright, he said firmly and confidently: "After my calculations, if 600 kilograms of fuel are unloaded from the rocket body, this missile will hit the target." This idea can be said to be completely contrary to the conventional way of thinking, others are eager to add more fuel to let the rocket shoot farther, only he, completely contrary to the contrary.
And the "price" of breaking the conventional thinking in this way can be imagined, that is, it has been opposed by a lot of people, many people just think that he is a newborn calf is not afraid of tigers, and he wants to behave, and some people directly said mercilessly: "The rocket energy is not enough, and you still have to unload it?" After that, everyone moved back to their previous calculation verification work, and ignored his suggestion as a deaf ear.
As in the case at that time, ordinary people may not be able to accept it, and most people will have self-doubt when they hear that their proposal is rejected in public, but Wang Yongzhi has not, and the discussion work has fallen behind for a while, until before the missile is launched, the more Wang Yongzhi thinks about it, the more unwilling he becomes, he firmly believes that there is no problem with his proposal, and if it can be adopted, the problem of the missile's range will also be solved, but at present it has been suffering from no one to support it.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration flashed in his head, since others were reluctant to adopt his completely unconventional suggestion because of his youth, if this suggestion could be approved by a more authoritative person, then others would naturally be willing to consider it. After figuring this out, he relied on his self-confidence and unwilling shaft strengthwent directly to knock on the door of a big man, and this big man was Qian Xuesen, the technical commander and great scientist sitting at the Jiuquan launch site.
At that time, Qian Xuesen, like everyone else, was not familiar with this young man in his early 30s, but Qian Xuesen did not veto Wang Yongzhi's suggestion like others, but after listening carefully to his opinion, his eyes lit up, and he shouted excitedly: "Go and invite the chief designer of the rocket immediately." ”
After the chief designer of the rocket arrived, Qian Xuesen pointed to Wang Yongzhi to the chief engineer and said: "This young man's opinion is right, just do what he says!" In the follow-up test, the scientific researchers improved the rocket in accordance with Wang Yongzhi's opinion, unloaded some propellant of the rocket, and the range of the rocket really became longer, and the missile hit the target with three launches, and the test was a complete success. Since then, Qian Xuesen has remembered Wang Yongzhi.
Later, when Qian Xuesen took a back seat and the new generation of space missions urgently needed someone to take command, Qian Xuesen did not hesitate to recommend Wang Yongzhi.
It is worth noting that Wang Yongzhi was able to get Qian Xuesen's recommendation, in the final analysis, because he has real talent and learning.
In 1932, Wang Yongzhi was born in a poor peasant family in Liaoning Province, although he was born in the war years, but fortunately, he has always had books to read, when he was in primary school, there was a teacher who liked him very much, and later after the primary school was closed, the Eighth Route Army founded Changbei Middle School in the local area, specifically recruiting children from poor families, Wang Yongzhi successfully completed middle school there, and was later sent to Shenyang to study high school.
When the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea broke out in 1950, Wang Yongzhi was in his second year of high school, and he experienced a relocation of the school site, and the reason for the relocation is still fresh in his memory, that is, the American planes had no fear, and the air raid sirens in the school kept sounding. It was this experience that laid the foundation for Wang Yongzhi's belief in airplanes, Wang Yongzhi said: "The country must have a strong national defense, so that others dare not bully." ”
In 1953, Wang Yongzhi firmly applied for the Department of Aeronautics of Tsinghua University and was successfully admitted. In 1955, Wang Yongzhi went to the Soviet Union to study, when the Soviet Union promised to train students for China to study atomic bombs and missiles, Wang Yongzhi as the only selected talent, from the aircraft design major to the missile major to study, during which he returned to China to the rocket research institute for internship, but also experienced the rupture of Sino-Soviet relations, after several mediations, finally decided to letOne person from each of the important departments of the national defense major returned to the Soviet Union to complete his studies, and Wang Yongzhi was the only student assigned to return to the rocket and missile design major
After returning to the Soviet Union, Wang Yongzhi studied under the academician of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, the famous chief designer of rockets - Mishen, and in the subsequent study process with outstanding professional ability won the favor of the tutor, and later after Wang Yongzhi finished reading, seeing that it was about to return to China, his mentor also deliberately retained him, wanted him to stay and continue to study for graduate school, and promised "I will be your mentor, and I will come forward to talk to you in the embassy."
In addition, the vice principal of the school also talked to him, and even said with pressure: "You are the only foreign student allowed by our school to study rocket and missile majors, you should cherish this opportunity, for your own good, I advise you to think carefully and stay ......."”
After hearing these words at that time, Wang Yongzhi was amused, he politely refused the retention of his tutor and vice principal, and resolutely embarked on the journey back to China, he rejected his mentor when he said: "My country needs me." ”
Wang Yongzhi was right, at that time, China's aerospace industry was indeed just starting, and there was an urgent need for technical cadres specializing in missiles and rockets; like Qian Xuesen back then, Wang Yongzhi returned to his heart like an arrow, and immediately after returning to China, he walked into the Gobi Desert and joined the construction of the motherland's national defense, and soon emerged and won Qian Xuesen's appreciation.
Especially after getting Qian Xuesen's recommendation, WangIn the following decades, Yongzhi started the journey of "victorious general". The reason why he is called "General Chang Sheng" is because he successively served as the president of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the head of the manned space engineering group of the "863" program, and the chief designer of China's manned space programAll the projects he has participated in have never been a failure, and they have been successful every time
In 1986, the international space launch market was in an eventful autumn, and there was a crisis in the carrying capacity of large satellites
"We want to develop a high-thrust ** rocket based on the 'Long March 2' rocket, which will increase the carrying capacity of the rocket by nearly 5 times, from the original 25 tons to 96 tons, at that time, China's rocket will be able to contract the large satellites launched by the space shuttle in the past, and then push China's carrier rocket to the international market. And the nickname of this rocket is called "Long Two Bundles".This idea can be said to be very great, according to the strength of the team of scientists led by Wang Yongzhi, if it is done step by step, it is not difficult to realize it, but the difficulty of this project is precisely the difficulty of "step by step".
The reality they had to face at the time was that there was simply not enough time. According to estimates, it would normally take 5-6 years to complete all the work according to the ambitious goal and erect such a large rocket as the Chang 2 bundle on the launch stand, and even if it can be exceeded, according to the budget of some foreign counterparts, it will take at least 3 years.
However, it was not until the end of 1988 that the state officially approved the development project of the high-thrust rocket, and the contract signed by the China Rocket Research Institute and the American Satellite Corporation at that time stipulated: the China Rocket Research Institute needed to complete the flight test of the high-thrust rocket before 1990. At that time, so to speakOnly 18 months were left for the development of the China Rocket Research Institute
Can it be done? At that time, Wang Yongzhi was under great pressure, and it was common for him to be unable to eat or sleep, but he finally led his colleagues to succeed in one fell swoop, and in just 18 months, he completed the impossible task in the eyes of the outside world, and created a miracle in the history of the world's carrier rocket development -- on July 16, 1990, the first flight of the "Chang Er Bundle" was successful.
On September 21, 1992, China's manned space program was officially approved. At that time, Wang Yongzhi had already reached the age of sixties, and he did not hesitate to take over this burden and served as the chief designer of China's first manned space project. Different from the existing manned spacecraft programs in the world, Wang Yongzhi boldly proposed a unique design scheme, which was ultimately a great success.
On October 15, 2003, in the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, for 25 years, Qian Lao sat in the command position, sat on Wang Yongzhi, under the leadership of Wang Yongzhi, China's first manned spacecraft Shenzhou 5 was successfully launched, at 6:23 on October 16, 2003, it lasted 21 hours and 23 minutes, Shenzhou 5 successfully returned to the ground after 14 laps in orbit, "aviation hero" Yang Liwei walked out of the return capsule safely, waved to everyone, that moment, The Beijing command center watched Yang Liwei get out of the cabin through the screen, and burst into warm applause.
At that time, Wang Yongzhi, who had always been calm, burst into tears, and Wang Yongzhi later said bluntly:
"At that time, watching Yang Liwei come out of the return capsule on his own, I was really excited, and I may not even realize that tears had already flowed down. I don't cry many times in my life because of excitement, and it's rare to cry uncontrollably like this. This is because foreign astronauts are all helped out of the hatch by people, and our spacecraft obviously protects the astronauts' bodies very well. As a matter of fact, what we are most afraid of when we are manned for the first time is that the astronauts will be injured, so the safety of manned spacecraft comes first. Ensuring security is the mission entrusted to us by the motherland and the people, and this time we have fulfilled our mission and achieved success. ”China's first astronaut Yang Liwei and the first astronaut Wang Yongzhi, the first astronaut to send Chinese to the sky, also left a precious group photo, both of them are fellow villagers in Liaoning, and they have won glory for their hometown together and made important contributions to China's aerospace industry.
And to achieve such an achievement, Wang Yongzhi never forgot to promote his predecessor - Qian Xuesen, so when Shenzhou 5 successfully returned and the whole country was boiling, Wang Yongzhi called Qian Lao for the first time, and in **, Wang Yongzhi seriously reported to Qian Lao: "The task you gave me is complete!" ”
* Qian Xuesen on the other end replied repeatedly: "Okay, okay!" I'm happy! ”
Wang Yongzhi went to visit Qian Xuesen.
Looking at the model of the "Shenzhou" spaceship placed on his desk, Qian Xuesen also shed tears of excitement. That model was given to him by Wang Yongzhi for his 88th birthday after China's first experimental spacecraft was launched in 1999. Back then, Qian Lao received a lot of various birthday gifts, but he put them aside, only Wang Yongzhi sent this "Shenzhou" spacecraft model, Qian Lao put it on the bookshelf upright, and then Qian Lao's physical condition was not very good, he needed to stay in bed for a long time, and his bed, just opposite the bookshelf, he always stared at this model for a long time.
In this way, 4 years later, the Shenzhou 5 manned spacecraft**, the model finally has a physical objectThe Chinese's dream of flying for thousands of years has come true.
In 2004, Wang Yongzhi won the 2003 National Science and Technology Award, received a bonus of 5 million yuan, and was known as "the first person in China to realize the dream of flying".
In 2005, under the command of Wang Yongzhi, following the Shenzhou 5, Shenzhou 6 was successfully launched, and two astronauts, Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, went into space.
In May 2006, 74-year-old Wang Yongzhi relieved himself of the heavy burden on his shoulders, but he still cares about the national aerospace industry, cultivates aerospace talents, and has been striving for the manned space industry. He said: "If I can continue to make more contributions to my country's aerospace industry and work for several more decades, it will be the greatest blessing for the rest of my life." ”
Now Shenzhou 15 has been launched, the two astronauts carried by Shenzhou 6 have completed the second liftoff, and Wang Yongzhi is 90 years old this year. On November 17, 2022, when Shenzhou 14 went out of the capsule for the third time, the astronauts also sent back a special "cosmic blessing" to celebrate the birthday of Academician Wang Yongzhi.
In addition to Wang Yongzhi, generation after generation of Chinese astronauts have worked hard and continued to struggle, and they are constantly refreshing China's heights and creating Chinese miracles.