On October 26, 2023, the Shenzhou 17 spacecraft, carrying three astronauts, was successfully launched and launched, ushering in a new round of personnel rotation for the Chinese space station.When it comes to manned spaceflight, many people will definitely think of China's first space hero, Yang Liwei

On October 26, 2023, the Shenzhou 17 spacecraft, carrying three astronauts, was successfully launched and launched, ushering in a new round of personnel rotation for the Chinese space station.

When it comes to manned spaceflight, many people will definitely think of China's first space hero, Yang Liwei. After the successful return of the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft to Earth in 2003, the chief designer of China's manned spacecraft system revealed that Yang Liwei also carried a pistol into space. Why is this?

Is it to prevent being attacked by aliens? Do astronauts currently working on the space station need to carry guns when leaving the spacecraft?

Yang Liwei takes a gun into space

At that time, Yang Liwei carried a Type 64 small automatic pistol into space, which was also equipped with 7 rounds of bullets. The reason why this pistol was called Type 64 was because it was finalized and produced in 1964.

If Yang Liwei brought this pistol to deal with the sudden appearance of aliens, we need to first understand whether this pistol is enough to hit aliens. From the parameters, it may be a bit uncertain.

The Type 64 pistol is the first independently developed and produced pistol in China. It has a simple overall structure, a small and exquisite appearance, and is relatively easy to carry.

It belongs to an automatic pistol, which can be fired single or double, and is also equipped with a relatively complete safety mechanism, making it difficult to wipe the gun and fire.

However, when paired with 7.62mm ammunition, the Type 64 pistol does not have much ammunition to hold, with a lighter warhead and relatively low firing noise.

The muzzle kinetic energy of this gun is only 220 joules, and killing a horse already requires 180 joules.

Furthermore, we do not know if extraterrestrial beings exist. Even if there are other extraterrestrial civilizations in the vast universe, they can still reach the vicinity of Earth, indicating that extraterrestrial civilizations are probably more advanced than our human civilization.

It can be seen that such a small handgun can be choked and may not even be able to defend itself against aliens.

Besides being unable to deal with aliens, walking in space with a handgun may also cause harm to one's own people.

Some people may think that space is a vacuum and there is no air, so pistols cannot be fired.

In fact, the bullet is equipped with ammunition, bullet cotton, and gas. When firing, hitting the primer can directly ignite the ammunition, and in a vacuum environment, the gas is more likely to ignite.

The energy generated by the explosion will be greater, the recoil will be stronger, and it is easier to deviate from the orbit, indicating that carrying a handgun in space walking is relatively dangerous.

Since Yang Liwei didn't bring a pistol to deal with aliens, why did he bring a pistol? This has to start from the 1960s.

Accidents in Soviet Space History

At that time, the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a fierce space race, both wanting to send astronauts into space first.

In 1965, the Soviet Union's "Ascension 2" was launched with two astronauts. This time, the Soviet Union not only wanted to send astronauts into space, but also completed the first space walk in human history.

During the spacewalk, Leonov's spacesuit suddenly expanded and enlarged, causing him to take a full 8 minutes to safely return to the cabin.

After this short episode came to an end, people on the ground began to eagerly expect the two space heroes to return to the ground smoothly. However, during the process of "Ascension 2" returning to Earth, the remote control device suddenly couldn't work properly.

In order to avoid astronauts being stranded in space, ground command personnel allowed the "Ascension 2" to fly one more lap and then manually activate the braking device to return to Earth, which resulted in the distance and duration of this return trip exceeding expectations.

What's even more urgent is that according to the original plan, the spacecraft severely landed at the location, directly falling into the deep mountains and forests with a lot of snow, and the cabin door was also blocked by a big tree.

The two astronauts first struggled to open the cabin door and then tried to contact the ground command center. However, they found that the communication antenna of the spacecraft had also been burned out, making it impossible to contact personnel for rescue.

At this time, the deep mountains were still covered in ice and snow. Originally, they could use a parachute or hide in the spacecraft cabin for heating, but during the landing process, the spacecraft cabin kept releasing air due to malfunctions. The parachute was hung on a tree, and they could only use a fire to get warm.

In order to quickly enable rescue workers to discover their location, these two astronauts even used the Morse code.

At that time, radio enthusiasts captured the spacecraft signal and informed the Soviet space department, and the rescue team quickly determined the positions of the two astronauts.

But the area where they are located is lush with trees, and the helicopter cannot land directly. Therefore, ground rescue personnel can only be dispatched to take them to the reception location, which took a whole two days.

During these two days, the two astronauts may be attacked by wild animals at any time, and it is unrealistic to engage in hand combat with wild animals. There may still be a certain chance of victory with handguns.

It can be seen that astronauts carrying handguns into space are not meant to deal with aliens,But in case of an accident and not landing at the designated location, there can be a pistol to deal with wild animals, etcIt's not difficult to understand why Yang Liwei brought a pistol into space.

Later, after learning from the lessons of the Soviet Union, countries such as China prepared a survival kit containing self-defense pistols and other materials when sending astronauts into space.

However, it is worth mentioning that with the continuous improvement of aerospace technology, the possibility of a manned spacecraft seriously deviating from its intended location when returning to Earth is not high, so a handgun is unlikely to be used.

Everyone knows that the space of a spaceship is limited, and everything carried into space needs to be used. However, China still chooses to let astronauts carry almost unusable handguns, which precisely proves the rigor and seriousness of China's aerospace industry.

As the saying goes, if you are not afraid of ten thousand, you are afraid of the unexpected. Only by anticipating all possible situations in advance and making contingency plans can you truly consider it for the safety of astronauts.

Besides bringing these materials that have been in space before, did the Shenzhou 17 crew bring any new things worth learning about this time? The answer is yes.

The "Post Artifact" of the Divine Seventeen Riders Group

Recently, the Divine Seventeen Squad and the Divine Sixteen Squad, who have just returned to Earth, have completed their rendezvous at the space station. How do the two groups of astronauts communicate during this two-way journey? This has to mention a call artifact - a voice processor.

The voice processor has built an air to air voice chainsaw channel, which can not only maintain contact with the ground command center, but also with astronauts on the space station. Astronauts can also pay attention to where the Shen17 crew has gone.

After arriving near the space station, the spacecraft needs to stop. The smooth completion of this process is closely related to the stability of communication between the spacecraft and the space station, and air to air communication machines can effectively solve this problem,

Air-to-air communication aircraft can not only build communication channels between spacecraft and space stations, but also transmit images and other data to ensure the safety hazards of docking, and smoothly send astronauts from Shen17 to work at the space station.

Now that the Chinese space station has been fully built and has entered the stage of application and development, astronauts will maintain long-term in orbit work through rotation.

With the entry of the Shen17 crew into the space station, China will conduct a new round of scientific and technological experiments on the space station, and more achievements will be transformed and applied to the ground in the future!

Reference:

1. China News Network: What are the "work tools" for the new crew of the Shenzhou 17 astronaut on their space journey?

2. Watch the news: Are astronauts equipped with "guns" to go into space to prevent aliens?

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