Today, the Shenzhou-12 manned spaceship, which has attracted much attention, was successfully launched. It seems that this launch is no different from the previous Shenzhou launch. But it may be the most important event in the field of human manned spaceflight in more than 20 years, and its significance and impact may exceed the service of manned dragon spacecraft in the United States.

Why do you say that? Because this launch marks a major change in the space landscape and is of historic significance.

The space station has a long history of 50 years. If divided from a functional point of view, the space station can be roughly divided into two types: experimental type and practical type. The former takes the engineering test as the main purpose to solve the feasibility problem. The latter takes scientific experiment as the main purpose.

Salute one and Sky Lab are the first experimental space stations in the Soviet Union and the United States, respectively. The Chinese Tiangong-1 target vehicle is also an experimental space station in a strict sense. Mir, the International Space Station and the Chinese space station, which has just begun construction, are the first practical space stations of the former Soviet Union, the United States and China, respectively.

So far, China, the United States and Russia are the only players on the space station. From a macro point of view, it is undoubtedly of great historical significance for human beings to leave the earth and begin to live in space. From a micro point of view, the first manned mission of various countries' experimental and practical space stations is also an important moment in history. Let's take an inventory.

On June 6, 1971, three former Soviet astronauts were launched on Soyuz 11. The next day, the spacecraft docked with the world's first space station salute No. 1 (the same size as the Chinese Tianhe module), which was launched on April 19. They lived on the space station for 24 days. But there was a tragedy when we returned to the ground. Due to air leakage in the cockpit and not wearing a spacesuit, three astronauts suffocated to death. This mission made history, but it came to an end and made people sad.

On May 23, 1973, three American astronauts were launched aboard the Apollo spacecraft. Nine days ago, a giant Saturn V rocket put the 82-ton Skylab space station into orbit. But the huge aerodynamic force during the launch tore off the solar wing on one side of the space station, and the other was stuck and unable to unfold.

In order to save the space station, Apollo astronauts carried out an unprecedented extravehicular space repair immediately after a successful docking with Skylab. They blocked a sunshade sail on one side of the space station, lowering the temperature in the cabin and unfolding the rest of the solar panel. After leaving the earth for 28 days, they returned home triumphantly. Contrary to the first mission of Salute one, it was a dead end mission.

On March 13, 1986, two former Soviet astronauts lifted off aboard the Soyuz T-15 spacecraft and successfully docked with the Mir space station two days later. The core module of the Mir space station, launched on February 20, is a practical modular space station developed by the former Soviet Union on the basis of the experience accumulated by the former Soviet Union in six salute space stations, especially the two long-term living space stations Salute 6 and 7.

Its docking of five special experimental modules has created conditions for a large number of experiments. They returned to Earth from Mir on July 16, and they lived on Mir for four months. During this period, they also flew the Soyuz spacecraft from the Mir to the soon-to-be-retired salute 7 space station, bringing the experimental equipment and important objects left behind by the astronauts to the Mir for further use. The mission was very successful and made a good start to Mir's 15-year legendary career.

On December 4, 1998, the space shuttle Endeavour launched with the USU node module and six astronauts. Two days later, it docked with the only orbital segment of the International Space Station, Dawn, and began the on-orbit construction of the International Space Station.

However, neither Dawn nor Unity has the necessary facilities to support the lives of astronauts. The Endeavour crew returned to the ground with the space shuttle after completing the mission of building the space station.

Over the next two years, the International Space Station spent most of its time unmanned. Until July 2000, the Russian Star core module was successfully launched and connected to the International Space Station. On November 2 of that year, the first long-term crew arrived at the space station and began a 20-year continuous manned flight.

China's Shenzhou-9 manned spacecraft was successfully launched on June 16, 2011, followed by a successful docking with Tiangong-1 on the 18th. Three astronauts Jing Haipeng, Liu Wang and Liu Yang returned to Earth after living in space for 13 days, making China the third country with space station experience. The flight was technically very similar to the Salute No. 1 trip of Soyuz 11 in 1971, except that China completed it very successfully.

Tiangong-1 lacks high-definition pictures in orbit, and the picture shows Tiangong-2, which is basically the same in appearance. Taking a look at these historical moments taken by its companion stars, you will find an interesting thing, that is, their time intervals are 2, 13, 12, and 13 years respectively. With the exception of the Soviet Union and the United States, the earliest experimental space stations are only two years apart, and the rest are all once in more than a decade.

The last moment is ten years from today. This shows that the space station has a very high threshold and difficulty, not everyone can play. If you take a closer look, the Soviet Union and the United States alternated in the first four moments, and then it was China. It is clear that the pattern or balance of power in space has quietly changed. New players of strength have emerged.

Today's successful launch of Shenzhou 12 is another important moment in history. China Space Station is a practical space station designed based on the experience of space stations in history. The mission of Shenzhou 12 is very similar to that of the Soyuz T-15 in 1986, with the aim of setting the stage for the construction and utilization of the subsequent space station.

As in previous historical moments, the first crew is bound to face many challenges in the face of new space stations, new technologies, and new missions. But please believe in the strength of China's aerospace. The Chinese space station is much more mature than the first experimental space station of the United States and the Soviet Union, more perfect than Mir, and more effective than the International Space Station. Shenzhou 12 will complete its mission successfully.

The successful launch of the Chinese space station Shenzhou 12 and the first arrival of the Chinese space station and the first arrival of the International Space Station more than 20 years ago are of similar significance and represent the continued existence of human beings in space.

The difference is that this time it is different countries and different people. It will change the space landscape dominated by the United States and Russia for decades. In fact, this can be confirmed by looking at the demographic changes in space. With the launch of Salute 6 in the late 1970s, there were "permanent residents" living on the space station for a long time, three Soviets at that time. In the 1990s, the honeymoon period of space cooperation between the United States and Russia, American astronauts stationed on the Mir.

The resident of space becomes two Russians and one American. In 2001, after the International Space Station began to carry people for a long time, it still maintained three people, and its nationality became a mixture of the United States, Russia, Europe and Japan, but the United States and Russia each maintained at least one person. In 2009, six people were stationed on the International Space Station, and the space population also increased to six.

Last year, four manned dragon spaceships were put into operation, increasing the number of people living in space by one to seven. With the launch of Shenzhou 12, the resident population in space has suddenly increased to double digits, ten!

The proportion of our population in space is no less than that of the United States and Russia. What we see here is not only the change in the balance of power in space, but also represents the growth and decline of the country's comprehensive strength. Space is only part of a historic change.

We are experiencing history. Bless China!