Tiangong space station, operating altitude 378KM.

Tang Weitian and He Ruo drilled into the spherical convex viewing window of XS-62 and watched the whole process of the Glory Capturing the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft not far away, with its cargo hold and robotic arm open.

It's now December 15, four days after the Glory was put into orbit, and the shuttle has not returned as expected.

On the 13th, the ground decided to let the Glory stay in space for two more days and use the remaining fuel to maneuver to the vicinity of the Tiangong space station to complete a spacecraft capture-maintenance exercise, targeting the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft.

The Tianzhou-1 and Tianzhou-2 spacecraft are both old cargo spacecraft that were built before, and the new generation of Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft can carry more cargo and is cheaper, using the Long March 7 rocket for launch.

Tianzhou-1 has completed its mission and the atmosphere has burned up, and Tianzhou-2 has been contracted to the Qinglong-2 rocket launch of Blue Sword Aerospace at the end of November, and has completed the replenishment task, preparing to leave the space station with a lot of garbage into the atmosphere and burn up.

Speaking of which, due to the frequent reception of tourists on the Tiangong space station, space junk is generated very quickly, and Tianzhou-2 almost can't fit this time.

It's okay to say that the supplies for receiving tourists are acceptable, and the Unity or Firm can still be accepted with a little consumption by the way, but there is really no way to bring garbage down, so Tianzhou 2 has become a garbage can.

Just in time for the launch of the Glory, the Aviation Development Commission decided to extend the detention time after discussion, and used the Tianzhou-2 spacecraft as the training object to familiarize itself with the operation process of the space shuttle's robotic arm, and to make experience reserves for the assembly of the Advance.

The two astronauts naturally have no opinion, and they will not dislike staying in space for a long time.

The mission process is not too difficult: the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft will first leave the space station, and then the glory will approach and open the cargo compartment, and Zhang Zhiguang will try to use a robotic arm to put the Tianzhou-2 with folded panels into the cargo compartment, carry out simulated repairs, and then release it.

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

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

In fact, if it is the Glory to the rescue, it is much simpler, the 35x8.4-meter cargo compartment can stuff four Soyuz spacecraft side by side, and you can directly stuff the runaway spacecraft into the cargo hold and bring it back to Earth, and then ask the ground engineer with the real matter.

The robotic arm of the Glory is also easier to operate, it is not only detachable, but also has an AI-assisted control system, and Zhang Zhiguang's mask has a HUD display that can help plan the operation route and predict the attitude of the grab, which is much easier than the claw machine.

He turned his head to look at the Tiangong space station that was less than two hundred meters away, and waved his hand loudly.

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

He Ruo: "Yes, I can hold the camera, I can see it very clearly, and I will pass it back to you." ”

Tang Weitian: "Should we also build an MMU (manned mobile unit)?" In that way, Lao Zhang can spray nitrogen to the space station, and I will bring you some bean sprouts, which are all grown by the space station itself, which is particularly delicious. ”

Zhang Zhiguang looked at the rope around his waist, and couldn't help but feel a little numb when he imagined that he was controlling that thing to fly to the space station.

"Old Don, if that thing leaks, it's going to be in trouble."

"What are you afraid of, isn't there a space shuttle?"

He Ruo and Tang Weitian shifted the topic to whether the one-man space mobile device was reliable, and Deng Lei, who had not been bubbling, also turned on the radio.

"Ground ground, I'm 01."

"The ground is there, please say."

"Glorious's fuel is 80% left, fuel is abundant, the International Space Station is not far from us, I calculated the orbit, 20% of the fuel can pass, can you go there before you return."

“……”

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

"You don't have to go over specifically, it's better to control the passing by them when you slow down, there should be a gap for a while, right?"

The ground was silent for a moment, then responded.

"Commander, the safe return must ensure at least 25% of the fuel remaining, we have calculated an orbit based on the position of the International Space Station, please compare it with the calculated orbit of the Glorious flight computer, and pay attention to keeping a safe distance.

We expect to consume 18% of the fuel and it will take about 50 minutes in parallel with the ISS, please be safe. ”

"01 (02) Understood!

The astronauts in the Tiangong space station heard the communication between the Glory and the ground, and tears of envy flowed from the corners of their mouths.

Although the ground command center is managed by the Aviation Development Commission, the Glory is owned by Xinyuan, and the astronauts have a very large degree of freedom.

Deng Lei: "It's a pity that the last batch of crew members of the Hira space station just went down, otherwise they would have gone there to visit the door." ”

Zhang Zhiguang: "I have a question, do you want to notify ISS in advance?" ”

……

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

"The three landers of Chang'e-5 successfully arrived in lunar orbit and landed at the right time"

"AI-assisted operation of robotic arms to help satellite recovery, what can the future large space shuttle do?"

"The Dream Chaser Space Shuttle's first manned flight, the Space Shuttle Glorious"

"When Glory visited the International Space Station, astronaut Thomas Spike captured precious images of two space shuttles in the same frame."

"Aramco's former hexagonal statement that the space shuttle's disorderly flight may pose a safety hazard."

“……”

The headlines on December 16 were hilarious, mostly by coincidence.

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

Coincidentally, the crew of the Glory in the sky did not realize this, and the ground center only confirmed several transfer orbits for safety and fuel saving, and did not announce the news to the Glory.

As a result, when Pedroddick drove the Dream Chaser to the bottom of the International Space Station and began to adjust his attitude to prepare for docking, Thomas Spike, a sturdy astronaut who was holding a camera to film the Dream Chaser, suddenly noticed a huge gray object in the lens.

The Houston Ground Command Center, Dream Chaser, and the astronauts in the ISS all heard Thomas shouting "Ovni, c'est un ovni!" ）”。

The astronauts closest to Thomas hurried over, and then saw through the porthole the Glorious belly towards them, which continued to approach, using the RCS to slowly sway underneath the Dream Chaser.

Both in the sky and in the ground were chaotic for a while, and even Pedro guessed that the ghost of the Columbia that disintegrated in space was a demon, 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 open channel, and the ISS learned that the Glory had come here to "call the door".

Deng Lei and Zhang Zhiguang communicated with ISS on the radio for a while before they realized that they had just in time for the Dream Chaser launch, so they adjusted their position at the suggestion of Thomas Spike 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 flew with the ISS for a total of two hours, and the daring astronauts interacted quite a bit in the unresponsive intervals on the ground. Even the Glory opened the cargo compartment to recreate the scene of the last space shuttle mission of the year, the Atlantis leaving the International Space Station, and the composition angle was almost exactly the same.

Thomas Spike concluded by saying that the photo of the two space shuttles together would be titled "Visitors in Space" and that he would definitely win an award for participating in the photo exhibition.

The Houston ground command center didn't know how to react, and could only watch them interact passionately in the sky, and the Aviation Development Commission was watching the excitement without officially reporting the flight plan.

(End of chapter)