Guide parachute, deceleration parachute and main parachute are opened in turn to ensure safe landing

At 9:56 on April 16, the return module of Shenzhou 13 manned spacecraft successfully landed at the Dongfeng landing site. In the process of astronauts’ return, an important life protection measure is the parachute. Before the return module lands, how does the parachute work to ensure the safety of astronauts?

First of all, the return module will automatically open the umbrella hatch cover at an altitude of about 10 kilometers from the ground, pull out the guide umbrella, and then pull out the deceleration umbrella. At this time, the speed of the return module is about 180 meters per second. After the parachute works for 19 seconds, it separates from the return cabin and pulls out the main umbrella at the same time. At this time, the descent speed of the return cabin gradually decreases from 80 meters per second to 40 meters per second, and then to 7 ~ 8 meters per second. In the whole process, in order to avoid overload, the deceleration parachute and main parachute will not be opened all at once.

Jia He, chief designer of Shenzhou 13 Spacecraft Recovery and landing subsystem of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group: we have some closing ropes, and the closing ropes are also very key. That is, during our flight, because the air speed is certain, if the area (parachute) is larger, the greater the load the parachute bears, and it is easy to break the parachute. Both our deceleration parachutes and main parachutes have a process of closing for 8 seconds, that is to close for 8 seconds and then release the closing. This is to reduce the overload of parachute opening and also reduce the overload felt by the whole astronaut.

In order to prevent the failure of the main umbrella, the return cabin is also equipped with a spare umbrella. When the return module descends from 6km to 5km, if the time is less than the predetermined time, the system will automatically judge that the main umbrella system is working abnormally, so as to start the backup umbrella to ensure the safety of astronauts.

How are parachutes made?

For manned spaceflight, safety is the most important. For parachute, because of its irreversibility, once it is opened, it can only succeed. Therefore, around safety and reliability, parachutes have been fully prepared in terms of configuration, materials, procedures and so on. So how is the parachute with 1200 square meters and so many functions made?

CCTV reporter Li Ning: This is the product processed by the sewing workshop. It is one of the very important equipment to ensure the astronauts’ safe return to the earth. Such a parachute was sewn by the staff by hand. Now we see the process of sewing parachutes.

The parachute sewing workshop is divided into flow area, large umbrella processing area and parts assembly area. The staff needs to sew more than 3000 parts and more than 20 umbrellas to make a 1200 square meter main umbrella.

CCTV reporter Li Ning: what umbrella are we sewing now?

Wang Hua, processing personnel of Shenzhou spacecraft parachute products of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group: of manned spacecraft (parachute).

CCTV reporter Li Ning: the umbrella of manned spacecraft is very large. How long does it take to process an umbrella?

Wang Hua, processing personnel of Shenzhou spacecraft parachute products of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group: now I’m pulling the radial belt. I can only work on the machine by one person. If this belt is completed, it basically takes one person a month.

This sewing workshop carries the sewing work of parachutes of all spacecraft in China. Due to the particularity of space vehicle parachute, the whole production project is completed manually.

Yang Xia, process director of Shenzhou spacecraft parachute products of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group: the machine is mainly produced in batch. In fact, the whole processing accuracy of the product is not so high in batch. However, we should ensure the quality of the product, because every picture, ring and spacing are required. It still depends on the overall cooperation of labor to complete the processing of the product.