Dreaming about space

30 Different times
"You know, little doll, after the 2.15 accident, Brother Dong grew old overnight."

It is definitely impossible for Fang Yuan to know about this kind of thing.

He wasn't even particularly able to feel the darkest moments Liang Tian said.

Because it's too far away.

But the heartfelt emotion of a centenarian can still easily infect others.

The accident happened on 2.15 at three o'clock in the morning. Liang Tian borrowed a car overnight and went directly to the satellite launch center without passing it.

This is the place where he once drove a special car, which carries the first pride of his life.

It may be a bit exaggerated to say that once you are an astronaut, you will always be an astronaut.

But it is no exaggeration to say that the tragic failure of [Intelcom 708 Satellite] has inevitably caused the family members of astronauts like Liang Tian’s parents to be looked down upon.

It can be regarded as a mark of an era.

Even if it wasn't obvious, no one would be willing to go to Liang Tian's rooftop to watch the live launch together.

At the end of the 90s, working-class families no longer had an iron rice bowl.

People who originally lived in the same workers' new village began to take different paths.

Some went into business, some set up stalls, and some...

No matter what, life has to go on.

At this time, Liang Tian was already a graduate student at the Eighth Academy of Aerospace Science in Shanghai.

It can be regarded as a reassurance for parents who have all been laid off.

Liang Tian's parents are the most grateful to Ji Zhidong.

If it weren't for Ji Zhidong, Liang Tian might be a gangster in society at this time.

Looking at the growth trajectory of Liang Tian's parents, they never thought that during the same period, Wenzhou people could also run a business empire by running transportation. 【Note 1】

Even if Liang Tian didn't rebel at that time and entered the factory step by step, he would inevitably be laid off now.

In the middle of the night, Liang Tian said he wanted to borrow a car to go to the launch site to find Brother Dong, but his parents didn't even stop him.

He didn't even say a word of advice, "The Chinese New Year is coming soon, let's talk about anything after the Chinese New Year".

You need to be grateful as a person. This is what Liang Tian's parents taught him since he was a child.

On the day of the February 2.15 accident, Liang Tian drove to the satellite launch center and watched Ji Zhidong grow old overnight.

On the first day in Xichang, Liang Tian did not enter the launch site.

He saw Brother Dong in front of the collaborative building that was destroyed by the blast wave.

At that time, Ji Zhidong only had one sentence that seemed to be muttering to himself: "How could someone not evacuate? How could someone not evacuate? How could someone not evacuate..."

Satellite launch centers all have clear regulations on evacuation [two hours before launch].

The first flight of [Chang Sanyi] is no exception.

In Maye Village, which is closest to the launch base, hundreds of villagers completed their evacuation early in accordance with regulations.

In this case, the death toll is certainly not as high as the rumors say, and it is unlikely that there will be as many villagers as many rumors say.

The villagers had all moved away in advance, but a small group of base scientific researchers did not comply with the requirement to enter the underground bunker before launch.

Perhaps, they had never encountered such an accident before, which made some people feel that it was safe to stay near the collaboration building and hotel.

Ji Zhidong feels guilty for this. As the ground commander of the launch mission, he should pay better attention to every small detail inside and outside.

But he put all his focus on the launch base.

He really hoped that the first flight of [Chang [-]-B] would be as successful as [Chang [-]-A].

Under the historical conditions at that time, if the first flight succeeded, it would be a "terrible" thing. If it failed, it would be a "terrible" thing.

However, no matter how much Ji Zhidong thought about it, he never imagined that it would be [extreme] to this extent.

Directly recorded in the history of world space disasters.

Ji Zhidong couldn't accept this failure, let alone the fact that his colleague who had said to each other yesterday, "After hitting this star, you can go home for the New Year", passed away like this.

There are also senior engineers who designed flight trajectories for [Chang Sanyi]...

Liang Tian accompanied Ji Zhidong and stood for a long time in front of the collaboration building that had been bombed into ruins.

Liang Tian didn't speak, not even a word of advice.

The reason why he went there in the first place was not because he wanted to say or do anything.

It's more because Ji Zhidong has always said that he is a lucky star.

He just wanted to accompany her silently like this.

He was afraid that the man who led him on the road to space would collapse like this.

Liang Tian still underestimated his leader, and even more underestimated the resilience of the astronauts.

After a good night, Ji Zhidong went back to work to find the cause of the 2.15 accident.

After in-depth investigations, multiple experts and an independent investigation team concluded that the 2.15 accident was caused by the failure of a very, very small gold-aluminum welding joint.

Because this point is not welded well, it hinders the output of the servo loop current of the follower frame, causing the inertial platform that controls the entire rocket to fail.

A problem with the voltage output module caused the rocket to correct its attitude according to wrong signals.

One solder joint and one big crash caused a devastating blow to the entire Chinese aerospace industry.

After the 2.15 accident, Ji Zhidong's health deteriorated.

The extreme self-blame, coupled with the original injuries, were all supported by an unyielding energy.

Ji Zhidong no longer serves as the ground commander of the launch mission. During the six months of investigating the 2.15 accident, he proposed a total of 44 256 severe and even harsh corrective measures.

Aerospace is a huge and delicate industry, and what needs to be ensured is that every detail within the human scope is flawless.

These 256 corrective measures cover everyone from the chief engineer of rocket design to warehouse custodians.

As large as an entire rocket, as small as a wire or a screw, the responsibility for everything is clearly assigned to the person.

Scientific experiments are allowed to fail.

This is especially true for space exploration.

But allowing failure does not mean allowing repeated mistakes.

After paying the price for failure, you must learn from this price how to avoid failure again.

Ji Zhidong's attitude towards mistakes also deeply affected Liang Tian.

时隔452天，1997年5月12日0时17分，已经成为【失败】代名词的长征系列火箭，又一次矗立在了西昌卫星发射基地。

At this time, there must be no foreign company willing to give Chinese astronauts a chance to fly a domestic satellite.

The rocket that went on the expedition was the [Long March [-]A], a rocket that achieved success in its debut.

It carries China's new generation communications satellite - [Dongfanghong-[-]].

This is the second partnership between [Chang Sanjia] and [Dongfanghong No. [-]].

The first partnership took place two and a half years ago, on November 1994, 11. The launch of the rocket was smooth and there were no problems at all.

The first one [Dongfanghong-[-]] had a fuel leakage failure and made three orbit changes. While it successfully reached geosynchronous orbit, it also ran out of fuel and failed to achieve a successful landing.

1997年5月12日0时41分，经过短暂而又漫长的24分钟等待，【长三甲】将第二颗【东方红三号】顺利送入预定轨道。

When the news came that the satellite had successfully entered the intended orbit, the astronauts stood up spontaneously, crying silently and applauding vigorously.

Over the past year or so, there have been too many difficulties.

The base's scientific research and staff members all breathed a sigh of relief.

At this time, Ji Zhidong informed everyone to have a meeting in the conference hall on the second floor.Just when everyone was congratulating each other and preparing to receive commendations, Ji Zhidong turned the [Commendation Conference] into a [Criticism Conference].

He directly began to criticize by name:
“The first thing to deal with is not the technical issues, but the people who have no sense of responsibility for their work.”

……

"Do you think you are worthy of being called an astronaut? How did you manage to stamp a leaky server and send it back for repair, and then send it back intact?"

……

"Do you really think that shouting slogans can make us work together?"

……

"Do you know that every detail needs to be accurate to the tiniest bit?"

……

"Let me tell you, it's not a technical mistake on your part, but a sloppy attitude!"

……

Many of those named were dumbfounded by the scolding.

How difficult was the success of [Dongfanghong No. [-]]?
Come back from failure and move forward with a heavy load.

Why does victory bring criticism instead of praise?

Ji Zhidong wants everyone to remember one thing - success is normal, and China Aerospace can no longer withstand the tragedy of 2.15.

The success of the second match between [Chang [-]A] and [Dongfanghong [-]] cannot dispel the doubts of the international market about [Chang [-]B] whose debut was a disaster.

Since the 2.15 incident, international insurance companies have been frightened by China's international commercial launches.

很多关注中国国际商业航天的人，回忆起1996年，都只会记得2.15【国际通信708卫星】事故和紧随其后的8月18的【中星七号】发射失败。

But in fact, between the accident on February 2.15 and the failure on August 8.18, the Xichang Satellite Launch Center still successfully sent the [Asia Pacific-[-]A], which had signed a contract long ago, into space.

The originally selected launch time for this satellite was March 1996, but due to the 3 accident, it was postponed to July 2.15.

At this time, there must be a lot of unresolved issues.

Of course, I originally wanted to push it further, but the final on-orbit delivery time for the contract signing is approaching.

If you don't pay, you will face huge compensation.

International commercial insurance companies were frightened by the 2.15 accident.

The rocket is already standing on the launch tower and is about to be ignited, but no insurance company in the world has agreed to cover it.

This is an international commercial launch, and it cannot go to space without insurance.

The contract says in black and white that insurance must be provided.

The desperate astronaut thought of the country.

Or do mothers of the motherland feel sorry for their children?

[Asia Pacific One A] After all, it was bought by a Hong Kong company, and we are still more or less a family member. We do not have to rely on international commercial insurance companies.

[Asia-Pacific 2590A] succeeded quietly, and before the astronauts had time to rejoice, just a month and a half later, [China Star [-]] failed to launch, and China Insurance Company P&C paid a compensation of US$[-] million.

The situation that no international commercial insurance company is willing to provide insurance for China’s international commercial launches has worsened after the failure of the [ChinaSat [-]] launch.

[Chang Sanyi] appeared on the historical stage for the second time on August 1997, 8.

What was launched was the communications satellite [Mabuhai 1] manufactured by Laura Company.

This is a new contract.

For this launch, Ji Zhidong left the launch line and launched a difficult international lobbying, hoping that international companies would once again believe in China's aerospace technology.

The most difficult thing here is still convincing international commercial insurance companies that are scared to death.

At that time, I could only be ruthless and accept no matter how harsh the terms were.

After much lobbying, an insurance company was finally willing to cover it—at a price that made it worth the risk for them.

This kind of contract is not much different from the contract we signed when we first launched [Asia [-]], which only had obligations but no rights.

China's international commercial aerospace industry, which was finally developed with great difficulty, returned to before liberation overnight.

This insurance contract is harsh, but reasonable.

Just imagine, if a car driver files several claims records in a row, the car insurance rates will also rise accordingly.

It is not unreasonable for international insurance companies to increase the rates of commercial launches of China's aerospace industry, which has repeatedly failed.

Only by re-receiving orders and re-entering launch can we regain a place in the international commercial aerospace market.

The more times you succeed, the rate will definitely come down.

This is similar to the fact that the driver in the accident has not had any new claims for several years.

After securing the International Commercial Insurance Company, on August 1997, 8, [Chang San B] stood on the launch tower of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center for the second time.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, ignition went smoothly.

The rocket took off normally.

[Mabuhai 1] entered orbit normally.

Two months later, on October 1997, 10, [Chang 17B] stood on the launch tower of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center for the third time.

This time, the satellite lifted by [Chang 2B] is still operated by Laura Company - [Asia Pacific [-]R].

Ignition went smoothly.

The rocket took off normally.

[Asia Pacific 2R] completed the orbit with extremely high precision.

Insurance rates have come down.

The share of international commercial launches that Chinese astronauts lost has also come back exponentially.

The transportation era of [Chang Sanyi] has arrived.

Under Jian Zhidong's painful 256 corrective measures, [Chang Sanyi], which failed in its first show, has not lost a single game in the next 20 years.

On June 2017, 6, due to abnormal operation of the third stage of the rocket, [Chang Sanyi] failed to send [Zhongxing 19A] into the predetermined orbit.

This launch was also broadcast live.

Netizens in the new era left messages one after another:

【ah!I can actually see a live launch failure! 】

[This is too real and transparent!Good review! 】

【It doesn’t matter!Learn lessons and make persistent efforts. 】

[It’s rare to fail once, try your best in the future! 】

Ji Zhidong looked at these messages and remembered the words "No chickens for sale" and "Don't even think about sitting in a soft sleeper" back then, and he couldn't calm down for a long time.

Times are different, and the same thing has different meanings.

　[Note 1]: For details, see "Meet the Perfumer"

　　Hahahahaha.

　　Is this the first time for you to meet an author as private as Piaopiao?

　　Since it's all involved, it's definitely unjustifiable not to open a portal, right?
　　↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

　　
　
(End of this chapter)