When everyone in China was cheering for the successful launch of the Shenzhou XIII manned spacecraft, attentive partners found two problems.
Question one: On September 17, 2021, Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft just returned to the ground, only one month later, how did Shenzhou XIII go on another business trip to space?
Question two: No sooner had Shenzhou XIII been launched than China announced that Shenzhou XIV and XV spacecraft were scheduled to be launched next year. With over 31 rocket launches this year, why are Chinese space launches so frequent?
Today Ono will talk to you about the adventure more awesome than outdoor adventure - space adventure.
Why does China launch so frequently?
China's space dream
To answer the question "Why does China launch space so often?" this question, China needs to first review the development of spaceflight in the world.
The world's first spacecraft was the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik I on Oct. 4, 1957. The United States followed suit with its famous "Star Wars Program" and an arms race with the former Soviet Union for outer space exploration.
The United States initially led in the number of satellites launched, before the former Soviet Union overtook the United States in 1972, and China joined the race with the successful launch of the Dongfanghong I satellite in 1970.
By 2015, China surpassed Europe to become the world's third-largest country in terms of the number of spacecraft launched.
The above chart shows that China launched 535 satellites and the United States launched 3772 satellites, a huge difference in the number of satellite launches between the two countries.
In fact, not only in the number, in space technology, China also has a certain gap with the United States, for which China rises to catch up.
From Shenzhou-1 spacecraft, to Shenzhou-13 spacecraft launch, Chinese astronauts have been working hard to schedule more than 40 space launch missions in 2021, and more than 30 have been launched so far.
More than 40 launches a year is indeed a bit "frequent" for Chinese spaceflight, but compared with the space launches of the world's developed countries, it is not that frequent.
Today's seemingly "frequent" space launches are actually making up for the gap between the country's poor times and developed countries in space exploration, and fulfilling a space dream for 1.3 billion Chinese.
What is Shenzhou 13 going to do?
China's Space Vision
Konstantin Tsiolkovs, the father of spaceflight, said, "The Earth is the cradle of mankind, but mankind cannot be bound to the cradle forever.
It is with such a dream that Chinese astronauts have started their dreaming journey to the distant outer space. The construction of a base in outer space, the space station, which can sail to farther places, has become the starting point of the journey.
The Shenzhou 13 spacecraft was built for this purpose.
This will partly explain the above mentioned "Shenzhou XII spacecraft just returned, Shenzhou XIII and why the business trip to outer space" question, but to fully understand the explanation, China needs to understand the construction process of the space station first.
In order to build a space station in outer space, the first step is to get there first, that is, to master the manned spacecraft launch technology.
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