Chapter 283 A Visitor by Chance

Tiangong Space Station operates at an altitude of 378KM.

Tang Weitian and He Zhuang got into the spherical convex viewing window of XS-62 and watched the whole process of the Guangrong capturing the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft with its cargo bay and robotic arm opened not far away.

It is now December 15, four days have passed since Glory entered orbit, and the space shuttle has not returned as expected.

On the 13th, the ground decided to let Glory stay in space for two more days and use the remaining fuel to maneuver near the Tiangong Space Station to complete a spacecraft capture-maintenance drill for the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft.

The Tianzhou-1 and Tianzhou-2 spacecraft are both old cargo spacecrafts that have been manufactured before. Their small size wastes a lot of weight. The new generation of Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft can carry more cargo and is cheaper. Using the Long March Rocket No. 7 is launched.

Tianzhou-1 has completed its mission and burned up in the atmosphere. Tianzhou-2 was launched by the Qinglong-2 rocket contracted to Lanjian Aerospace at the end of November. It has completed its supply mission and is preparing to leave the space station and take a lot of garbage into the atmosphere to be burned.

Speaking of which, because the Tiangong Space Station frequently receives tourists, space debris is produced very quickly, and this time Tianzhou-2 could hardly contain it.

The supplies for receiving tourists are okay. It is acceptable for the Unity or the Steadfast to carry some for consumption, but there is really no way to bring garbage with them, so the Tianzhou 2 becomes a trash can.

Just in time for the launch of Glorious, the Aerospace Development Commission decided to extend the detention time after discussion, using the Tianzhou-2 spacecraft as the training object to familiarize themselves with the operating procedures of the space shuttle's robotic arm, and to reserve experience for the assembly of the Advance.

The two astronauts naturally had no objection, and they wouldn't mind staying in space for a long time.

The mission process is not difficult: the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft will first break away from the space station, and then the Glory will approach and open the cargo bay. Zhang Zhiguang will try to use a robotic arm to put the folded Tianzhou-2 battery panel into the cargo bay for simulation. Released after repair.

After completing the final waste utilization, Tianzhou-2 finally flew into the atmosphere, was burned and disintegrated by the high temperature, and crashed in the South Pacific.

Zhang Zhiguang still wears an extravehicular spacesuit to control the robotic arm outside the space shuttle, which reminds him of last year's Unity mission.

In fact, it would be much easier if the Glory went to the rescue. The 35x8.4-meter cargo hold can hold four Alliance spacecraft side by side. You can directly stuff the out-of-control spacecraft into the cargo hold and bring it back to Earth, and then ask the ground engineer for the actual information.

The robotic arm of the Glory is also easier to operate. It is not only detachable, but also has an AI-assisted control system. There is a HUD display on Zhang Zhiguang's mask to help plan the operation route and predict the posture of the grabbed object. Compared with grabbing The claw machine is much easier.

He turned to look at the Tiangong Space Station diagonally below, less than two hundred meters away, and took the time to wave widely.

"Mr. Tang, Mr. He, can you see me?"

He Ruan: "Yes, I'm holding a camera. I can see it very clearly. I'll pass it on to you later."

Tang Weitian: "Should we also build an MMU (Manned Maneuvering Unit)? Then Lao Zhang can come to the space station spraying nitrogen. I will get you some bean sprouts, which are grown by the space station itself. They are very delicious."

Zhang Zhiguang looked at the rope attached to his waist and felt a little numb imagining himself controlling that thing to fly to the space station.

"Old Tang, if that thing leaks air, it will be in trouble."

"What are you afraid of? There's a space shuttle here."

The topic between He Ruang and Tang Weitian shifted to whether the single-man space maneuvering device was reliable, and Deng Lei, who had been silent for a long time, also turned on the radio.

"Ground ground, I'm 01."

"The ground is there, please say."

"The Glorious has 80% of its fuel left. The fuel is very rich. The International Space Station is not far away from us. I calculated the orbit and found that it can get there with 20% of the fuel. Can I go and have a look before returning?"

"..."

The ground didn't know how to respond. At this time, Zhang Zhiguang's voice also sounded:

"There's no need to go there specifically. Why don't you control your speed and pass them when you slow down? There should be a gap for a while, right?"

The ground was silent for a moment, then responded.

"Commander, a safe return must ensure at least 25% of the fuel remaining. We have calculated a trajectory based on the position of the International Space Station. Please compare it with the trajectory calculated by the Glorious flight computer, and be careful to keep a safe distance.

We are expected to consume 18% of the fuel and spend about 50 minutes parallel to the ISS. Please pay attention to safety. "

"01 (02) Understand!

The astronauts in the Tiangong Space Station heard the communication between Glorious and the ground, and tears of envy flowed from the corners of their mouths.

Although the ground command center is managed by the Aerospace Development Commission, the Glory is owned by Xinyuan, and the astronauts have great freedom. This does not feel like a mission, but a bit like traveling in space on a space shuttle?

Deng Lei: "It's a pity that the last batch of crew members of the Shira Space Station have just left. Otherwise, we could still go there for a visit."

Zhang Zhiguang: "I have a question. Do you want to notify ISS in advance?"

…

"Glorious successfully conducted a spacecraft recovery simulation test in space."

"The three Chang'e-5 landers successfully reached the lunar orbit and chose the opportunity to land."

"AI-assisted operating robotic arms assist satellite recovery. What can large space shuttles do in the future?"

"The first manned flight of the Dream Chaser space shuttle, a chance encounter with the Glory space shuttle"

"Glory visits the International Space Station, and the British astronaut Thomas Specay captured a precious image of two space shuttles in the same frame."

"The former Pentagon of Aramco said: The disorderly flight of the space shuttle may bring safety hazards."

"..."

The headlines on December 16 were quite lively, mainly because of a coincidence.

On the morning of the 16th, Beijing time, and the evening of the 5th, Aramco time, the Dream Chaser space shuttle was driven by Spanish astronaut Pedro Dick and carried the other two Aramco astronauts. It was launched into space by the Falcon 9 rocket at the Kennedy Space Center and prepared to dock with the International Space Station.

The coincidence happened. The Glory crew in the sky did not realize this, and the ground center only confirmed the transfer orbit several times for safety and fuel saving, and did not inform the Glory of the news.

The result was that when Pedro Dick drove the Dream Chaser to the bottom of the International Space Station and began to adjust the posture to prepare for docking, the British astronaut Thomas Specay, who was holding a camera to shoot the Dream Chaser, suddenly found a huge gray object in the lens.

The Houston ground command center, the Dream Chaser, and the astronauts in the ISS all heard Thomas shouting "Ovni, c'est un ovni (UFO, there is an UFO!)".

The astronauts closest to Thomas hurried over, and then saw the Glory with its belly facing them through the porthole. The latter continued to approach, using RCS to slowly swing from under the Dream Chaser.

There was chaos both in the sky and on the ground for a while, and Pedro even speculated that it might be the ghost of the Columbia that disintegrated in space, which was even more frightening.

In the end, it was the Glory that took the initiative to turn on the radio and call on the public channel, and the ISS knew that the Glory had come here to "visit".

Deng Lei and Zhang Zhiguang had a messy exchange with the ISS on the radio for a while before they realized that they had just caught up with the launch of the Dream Chaser. So at the suggestion of Thomas Speck, they adjusted their position so that the camera could fully capture the Dream Chaser and the Glory below against the blue and white background of the earth.

The Glory accompanied the ISS for two hours in total, and the bold astronauts had quite a lot of interactions during the time when the ground was not reacting. The Glory even opened the cargo hold to reproduce the scene of Atlantis leaving the International Space Station during the last space shuttle mission of that year, and the composition angle was almost exactly the same.

Thomas Speck finally said that the photo of the two space shuttles together would be named "Visitors in Space" and would definitely win a prize in the photography exhibition after landing.

The Houston Ground Command Center did not know how to react and could only watch them interact passionately in the sky. The Aerospace Development Commission did not officially report the flight plan and was just watching the excitement.