His head in the clouds and feats on the ground
Print Edition
TO the modern generation, Fang Guolong, 78, is an unsung hero in Chinese space exploration.
The quiet retiree, who lives modestly in the Dongfeng neighborhood of Minhang, devoted 34 years to researching and designing systems for carrier launchers and manned spacecraft. In 2004, he was given the Outstanding Contribution Award for Chinese Manned Space Flight.
The district recently celebrated Fang’s achievements with a small aerospace exhibition that included models and pictures of the Shenzhou 1 spacecraft and the Tiangong 1 space station. They are part of Fang’s personal collection.
“I just hope that more young people will become interested in space science,” said Fang, explaining the purpose of the mini-exhibit.
‘Space dream’
He said he didn’t have a “space dream” as a youth. After graduation from high school, he was assigned to study at the former Military School of Engineering of the People’s Liberation Army in Harbin in northeastern Heilongjiang Province.
That was in the early 1960s. Fang said he wasn’t happy with the assignment.
“Some of my classmates got to go to Tsinghua University, and I was jealous of their good luck,” he said.
But a year’s study at the military school changed Fang’s view. Most of his professors had studied abroad, and his military instructors were decorated war veterans. Fang was moved by their vision of a modernized Chinese military.
“I remember that then Premier Zhou Enlai once visited our school,” he said. “When he was shown the latest foreign equipment, he seemed quite indifferent. But when he was shown the equipment we were developing, his interest was suddenly sparked and he asked a lot of questions. That somehow encouraged me.”
After graduation, Fang was an instructor at the Nanjing Artillery School until 1979, when he was transferred to the Shanghai Space Bureau to work on the Changzheng 4A launcher project. That was the start of his career in space.
“Back in 1970s, although the country had successfully sent its first artificial satellite into the orbit, China still had a big gap with the US and the former Soviet Union on satellite applications,” said Fang. “Chinese talent was very much needed, so many people with relevant studies were transferred to the launcher project.”
New challenge
Fang said it was a new challenge for him, but he quickly its opportunities. Four years later, he was named chief designer of the remote-measuring system for the launcher.
In 1988, the Changzheng 4A sent Fengyun 1, the first generation of China’s meteorological satellites, into the orbit. Fang received the Special Award for National Award for Science and Technology Progress for his work on the project.
In 1991, when China started its manned space flight program, Fang was invited to become chief designer of the power system for the spacecraft.
Fang admitted that his first inclination was to decline the offer.
“To be honest, manned space flight was not my specialty,” he said. “I had zero experience in that. Then, too, I was 55 years old at the time and about to retire. I thought the project should be engaging younger people.”
However, Fang was eventually persuaded to take on the job.
“I didn’t fully trust foreign technologies or textbooks, but I always tried to be practical,” he said of the principles that guided him.
Fang and his team started experiments on solar panels for the spacecraft. He suggested they build a cryogenic box in which the panels could simulate the weightlessness at minus 60 degrees Celsius.
“That was a risk because we didn’t have any precedent for such experiments,” said Fang.
They worked in a disused factory. The experiment took them two months. The results were satisfactory.
An imported driving device for the solar panels was extremely expensive, and the core technology virtually impossible to acquire. Fang and the team decided to develop their own driving device. After much work, that, too, was successful.
“It was very fortunate that I could draw on knowledge I had learned in school and apply it to practical use,” he said.
Nowadays, Fang and his wife live in a small but tidy apartment. Every morning he does physical exercises in the neighborhood garden. Afternoons, he usually listens to classical music. He has reworked the power supply in his home to make it more energy efficient.
Fang said his biggest wish is that more young people will become mesmerized by the possibilities of space and study to help the nation realize its exploration dreams. That’s why he agreed to the small exhibition of his aerospace mementos in the neighborhood.
“The future is always tied to young people,” he said. “I believe they can do better than us.”
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