Chapter 308 Shenzhou Takes Off, Adding Fuel to the Fire!

July 10, 2008.

The last day of the second week of the release of Gravity.

At 15:35 in the afternoon, Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

At this time, a huge Long March 2F Yao 7 carrier rocket has been erected on the launch pad.

Many space agency staff are conducting the final launch inspection and fuel filling around the rocket.

And a group of special sightseeing guests were welcomed on the observation deck a few kilometers away from the launch pad.

"Director Wu, it is estimated that our Shenzhou VII will be launched at 21:10 Beijing time."

A young man wearing a white work suit and a work hat was holding a work schedule and telling Wu Yuan about the situation.

"Nine o'clock in the evening? That's still early." Wu Yuan nodded in understanding after listening to his introduction.

China's early manned space missions were all done very conservatively.

This launch time of 21 o'clock in the evening is the safest launch window obtained after various precise calculations.

Wu Yuan, an outsider, certainly had no objection to this. He gladly accepted it and said with a smile: "Has the live broadcast started now?"

It was different from the situation 15 years later when sending people to space was as simple as drinking water, and no one paid much attention to the specific launch situation.

Now China's manned space mission can be said to be the focus of the whole nation, and it will be broadcast live throughout the process, and the studio will invite experts to cooperate in the explanation.

Wu Yuan remembered that in his dream, he waited in front of the TV for more than two hours and watched the launch of Shenzhou VII with his own eyes. Two days later, he watched astronaut Zhai Zhigang perform extravehicular activities in front of the TV and complete China's first spacewalk.

To this day, he still remembers that when he successfully completed the spacewalk, the community where he lived was full of cheers and excited applause.

Now, he has the opportunity to see the rocket take off at the launch site.

All the crew members of "Gravity" were invited to watch this important rocket launch ceremony.

This is also a very important publicity for the film.

They didn't even need to say anything. Just a few seconds of footage in the live broadcast was enough to make a name for themselves in front of the national audience.

Standing in the first row of the observation deck with other guests invited to visit the launch, when the live camera swept over Wu Yuan, Gong Li and others, they all waved to the camera.

This scene was accurately captured and broadcast to CCTV's broadcast room.

An expert professor with half white hair was chatting with the host about the aerospace industry in the broadcast room.

When the host saw Wu Yuan, Gong Li, Wang Xueqi and others, he immediately interrupted the professor and said with a smile: "The people who appear in our live broadcast now are the crew of Gravity who were specially invited to watch the launch of Shenzhou VII."

"Gravity is my country's first space science fiction disaster movie. It is currently being screened nationwide. Movie fans have given it high praise and word of mouth."

"This is not just a commercial film, but also a pseudo-popular science film that can help people understand and get in touch with real space. If you haven't seen it, you can go to the cinema to watch it."

The CCTV host took the initiative to advertise a movie. Although he was not the host of the "News Broadcast", the effect was already exaggerated.

And it's not just the host. After listening to the host's advertisement, the old professor also took the initiative to say: "Yesterday I went to the cinema with my family to watch this movie."

"Although the movie has made some designs that violate space physics in order to create some artistic conflicts, overall, this movie is still worth going to the cinema to watch."

"If nothing else, the space created by special effects in the movie is worth the ticket price."

In the eyes of experts and professors, some plots of "Gravity" must be full of loopholes.

For example, the satellite debris at the beginning cannot have such high kinetic energy, nor can it run to the orbit where the space station is located.

The plot in the middle where the male protagonist chooses to let go in order to save the female protagonist is also ridiculous. At that time, the spacecraft was not rotating, and the astronauts did not have a continuous external force or inertia to push them outward. The male protagonist did not need to let go.

In the end, the female protagonist who lived in space for so long was able to swim when she returned to the ground, and she could swim to the shore and climb up. She is a typical Chinese superman.

In addition, there are many small BGUs in the movie.

But these bugs play a key role in the movie. It can be said that without these bugs, the movie story would not be established and the ending would not be shocking.

Although real experts know these bugs, they still think that "Gravity" is an excellent work.

Because they know very well that this is a movie, not a popular science documentary, let alone a thesis.

Only some people who think they "know a lot" and are eager to show off their "talents" will excitedly point out the so-called "low-level errors" in "Gravity" on the Internet after watching this movie, in order to satisfy their vanity by amazed by people who don't understand science.

On the contrary, the professor from Tsinghua University and Peking University invited to the live broadcast room did not deliberately mention the bugs in the movie and gave a good evaluation of the movie.

To be honest, for ordinary people, they don't know those profound physics and space physics knowledge, so there is no need to nitpick.

It is more worthwhile to let them ignite their curiosity and enthusiasm for space exploration through this movie.

Of course, this is a live broadcast of a rocket launch for a national audience, and mentioning "Gravity" is already the limit.

After a few brief recommendations, the two continued to chat about today's rocket launch mission.

At the rocket launch base, Wu Yuan also left the observation deck with Gong Li and Wang Xueqi and went to have dinner first.

At 21 o'clock in the evening, the three of them came to the observation deck again.

The temperature difference between day and night in Jiuquan is relatively large. Everyone who is still wearing short-sleeved shorts during the day has already put on a coat at night, waiting for the rocket to launch in the cold wind.

Now is definitely a moment of national attention, and the attention may even be higher than that of the subsequent Olympic Games opening ceremony (domestic only).

Unfortunately, today's mobile phones are not as advanced as those of later generations. Wu Yuan could not watch the launch at the same time while using his mobile phone to watch the live broadcast and post on Weibo.

Otherwise, he will specify to take some selfies and videos and post them online!

Unfortunately, now he can only stand on the observation deck and look at the launch pad with dim yellow light shining in the distance.

At this time, inside the command center, final preparations for takeoff were also being made.

On the big screen, all three astronauts were already sitting in the cabin, ready to take off.

"ten!"

"Nine!"

"eight!"

The commander, who was very young and even had hair on his lips, calmly recalled the launch countdown.

His voice spread through radio to thousands of households in China.

The TV sets in every household were also broadcasting the images of the astronauts on the command center and the big screen at this time.

"three!"

"two!"

"one!"

The three astronauts sitting in the orbital module saluted the camera in front of them.

"ignition!"

"take off!"

Following the commander's order, the nozzle under the rocket burst out with a "boom", brilliant and hot flames, and tons of fuel burned violently, providing thrust for the rocket.

Standing several kilometers away, Wu Yuan felt as if he was right in front of the rocket, almost face-to-face watching the rocket take off.

When watching the live broadcast, I always felt that the rocket took off very slowly, like ants climbing a tree.

But at the scene, Wu Yuan really felt that he was not slow at all!

In just the blink of an eye, the rocket quickly rose to the point where he could only see the tail flames when he raised his head.

"Boom -" Along with the roar of the rocket taking off, bursts of fierce applause from the command center came to my ears.

"The rocket enters the expected orbit!"

"Launch successful!"

At this moment, the whole country is celebrating!

The scenes described in the movie are perfectly combined with reality at this time.

Two days later, people all over the country will be able to see Chinese astronauts leaving the cabin on the Shenzhou 7 spacewalk on TV!

A small step for China Aerospace, a giant leap for mankind!

When the Shenzhou 7, which carried the hopes and expectations of all Chinese people, successfully took off and was still climbing according to the planned track, cinemas of various sizes across the country were already overwhelmed by the crowds of audiences.

There is no time more suitable than now to watch a movie related to China Aerospace.

"Gravity", which had been slightly less popular, has once again become the center of attention across the country.

Now, this movie is more than just a movie, it also represents the emotional sustenance of all Chinese people’s space dream!

Everyone lined up to walk into the cinema and looked at the Tiangong Space Station, the Sky Survey Telescope, and the new model of Shenzhou spacecraft more than ten years later. Everyone's eyes were full of expectations.

This is not a science fiction movie. In the not-too-distant future, everything in this movie will definitely become a reality!

China has the ability and confidence to become a major aerospace country, build its own space station, and occupy a place in extraterrestrial space!

A couple walked out of the cinema.

The girl held the boy's hand, raised her head, and asked with a bright smile: "Will we have our own space station in the future?"

"Will this space station really be called Tiangong?"

"Shenzhou, Tiangong, Xantian, these names are really romantic."

The boy nodded firmly: "There will be!"

"Xiao Li, what do you think of my college entrance examination choice next year, majoring in aircraft power engineering?"

"I didn't know what I wanted to do in the future, but after watching this movie, I know what I want to do."

"I want to build a rocket!"

"I want to turn the future described in this movie into reality!"

"The Tiangong Space Station, the survey space telescope, our lunar rover, and manned moon landings. I believe this will not be a dream and will come true one day sooner or later!"

The girl looked at her boyfriend, and she saw a dazzling light in his eyes!

"Yeah! I support you!"

"But you can't abandon me, I have to work hard with you!"

In this way, two young people, only 17 years old, made an important decision on this ordinary evening.

They don’t know now that ten years later, one of them will become the youngest developer of the Yuetu Mars rover, and the other will become a member of the design team of the Long March 9 heavy-lift rocket.

What prompted them to take this step was this movie that influenced a generation's understanding and perception of "space" - "Gravity"! (End of chapter)