Heart to the Motherland
About Qian Xuesen
Birth year: 1911
Death year: 2009
Birth place: Shanghai
Position: Rocket scientist, “father of China's space program”
Qian Xuesen's words:
“My career is in China, my achievement is in China, and my destination is in China.”
“我的事业在中国，我的成就在中国，我的归宿在中国。”
In the autumn of 1955, a big ship took a Chinese man across the Pacific Ocean (太平洋) and back to China. He was a famous scientist in the United States. But he decided to go back to his home country. He was Qian Xuesen (钱学森), the father of China's space program (中国航天).
Qian was a Chinese student who lived abroad (在海外). He studied rocketry (火箭) in the US. Because he was so talented, he soon became a young professor (教授). But he still cared about China. After the founding of new China, he wanted to give up his high salary and return. But his way back was not easy. He was under arrest (拘留) for five years in the US. Finally he came back to China under the help of Premier Zhou Enlai (周恩来总理).
After Qian arrived, he saw the backwardness (落后) of technology (科技) in China. To protect the country, Qian joined a team to make rockets. It was very hard. In the 1950s, few people in China had knowledge about this. Qian and his team had to work on their own. In 1964, they launched (发射) China's first atomic bomb (原子弹). Then in 1970, they launched the first man-made satellite (人造卫星). Their hard work made our country safer. Qian's work also led to the success (成功) of China's first manned spacecraft (载人飞船) in 2003!
Astronauts Make Heroic Trip Home
神舟十二号顺利返航，一路上经历了哪些挑战？
Welcome home! The Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft returned to Earth on Sept 17. Carrying three Chinese astronauts — Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo — the return capsule (返回舱) touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in Inner Mongolia at 1:34 pm.
The three astronauts were found in good health. Actually, the return journey was so smooth that Tang was seen playing with a pen in the return capsule.
However, there were dangerous and challenging parts that you might not know about the landing.
While the return capsule entered the atmosphere (大气层), the temperature of its outside could be higher than 2,000 degrees! “Real gold fears no fire,” Nie joked as they experienced this. Special materials on the outside of the capsule kept the astronauts safe inside.
More dangerously, the astronauts experienced a blackout (黑障) period, which was caused by the heating. It means they lost radio touch with Earth for several minutes. Radar (雷达) helped people on the ground locate (定位) the capsule.
When the capsule was about 10 kilometers above the ground, it prepared to land. At the time, the capsule still traveled at 200 meters per second. That's twice the speed of high-speed trains! It was too fast to directly land. Therefore, parachutes (降落伞) are used to soften the landing. Even so, if a chute is too big, it might turn over, just like an umbrella on windy days. So the capsule first opened a small chute before pulling out its giant main chute — as big as 1,200 square meters! They let the capsule slow down gradually.
Sept 17 was Liu Boming's 55th birthday. He said it was his most memorable birthday. We can believe him!
Did you know?
The Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft was launched (发射) on June 17. The astronauts stayed in space for three months, setting a new record for the longest single-flight space stay for astronauts. They worked on building China's Tiangong space station.
Here are some things they did:
· They carried out two spacewalks and used a large robotic arm to set up devices (设备) outside the station.
· They performed a number of scientific experiments and tests.
· They had video calls with President Xi Jinping and hundreds of researchers, teachers and students in Hong Kong.
· Before leaving, they sent some experimental data (实验数据) back to the ground and organized materials inside the station.
New landing site
The return of the Shenzhou XII spacecraft was the first time astronauts landed at the Dongfeng landing site. In the past, all of China's spaceflights returned to the Siziwang landing site. Both sites are in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
Why was the site changed? According to experts, in recent years, Siziwang developed quickly and more land was occupied. There are more people, making it unsuitable to receive returning spacecraft, while Dongfeng landing site is in the Gobi Desert, making it a safer choice. At the same time, Dongfeng is closer to the Jiuquan center, which is in charge of taking care of astronauts and their return capsules.
Nobel Prize Winner
SWEET wormwood (青蒿) is a common plant in China. But it has the power to cure the deadly disease called malaria (疟疾). Tu Youyou, 84, is the woman who uses the plant's special power to save millions of lives. The Chinese scientist won a Nobel Prize because of her great contribution (贡献).
On Oct 5, Tu was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. She shared the prize with two other scientists from the US and Japan. Tu is the first native (本土的) Chinese person to receive a Nobel Prize in natural sciences.
Tu was modest about receiving the award: “It's a success for the whole research team.” She also thinks it is scientists' duty to fight for the health of all humans.
When Tu joined the national research team to find the medicine that could fight against malaria in the 1960s and 1970s, things were hard. The team didn't have advanced equipment back then. Tu used to test medicines by eating them herself. Tu's team searched old Chinese medicine books by hand and tested over 2,000 traditional recipes.
To do research, Tu also had to move around a lot. Once she returned home after traveling for six months. Her little daughter didn't recognize her and hid from the “strange woman”.
Finally, Tu found artemisinin (青蒿素) in sweet wormwood in 1971. She spent the next decades trying to improve the medicine. According to World Health Organization, about 200 million people suffer from malaria around the world, and about half a million die each year. Artemisinin is still the most effective treatment against malaria known today.
Tu never complains about how hard she works. “I feel more rewarded (获得回报的) when I see so many cured patients,” she said.