Twenty-seven years ago today, on November 20th, 1998 (October 2nd, 1998 in the lunar calendar), the 16-nation International Space Station was launched. On December 7, the "Dawn" module and the "Unity" module were successfully docked in space. On November 20, 1998, the first batch of 16-nation International Space Station composed of 12 member countries of the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and the European Space Agency was successfully launched. This marked the beginning of mankind's peaceful development of space. The space station is the largest and most advanced manned aircraft in human history, and it is planned to cost 40 billion dollars. Baikonur Cosmodrome, northern Kazakhstan, at 9:40 Moscow time on November 20th. With a loud bang, the Russian "Proton-K" rocket, carrying the Russian-made functional cargo hold, the main device of the "Space City", slowly rose in a flame and smoke, dragging its long tail into space... This loud noise marked that the largest scientific and technological cooperation project in the field of human space had entered the actual assembly stage; This loud noise means that mankind has taken another big step forward on the road of exploring and developing space. Russia is deeply proud of this: 41 years ago, the first artificial earth satellite was launched here; 37 years ago, Gagarin, the first cosmonaut, flew into space here; Now, "a new era of space begins in Baikonur". On this day, the weather over Baikonur Cosmodrome was not ideal, with dark clouds reducing visibility and strong wind speeds. Looking at the 24-ton functional cargo hold "Dawn" at the top of the three-stage launch vehicle "Proton", the hearts of people present were tense. Before the launch, officials of the Russian space agency spoke cautiously. At 9:40, there was a loud noise, and a huge launch vehicle rose from the ground with brown-red flames and thick smoke. Forty seconds later, the rocket disappeared into dense dark clouds. In the control center, the broadcast constantly reported the flight situation of the rocket to people: "Flight is normal!" "Flight is normal!" After 9 minutes and 48 seconds, people saw from the screen that the functional cargo hold of "Dawn" had successfully separated from the launch vehicle at an altitude of 200 kilometers and successfully entered orbit. "The launch vehicle has disengaged and Dawn is now on its own," NASA spokesman Kyle Henin announced. The rocket will send the module into primary orbit at 185 kilometers apogee and 150 kilometers perigee. Four days later, the module will use its own engine to rise to the predetermined orbit of 350 kilometers perigee and 500 kilometers apogee. At 1:07 on December 7, the Russian "Dawn" module and the American "Unity" module successfully docked about 340 kilometers above the earth. The functional cargo hold for this launch was funded by NASA and made in Russia. The cabin weighs about 20 tons, is 13 meters long, has an internal volume of 72 cubic meters and a usable area of 40 cubic meters. It is the basic cabin of the space station. This cabin is mainly used to connect the business cabins and living cabins of the space station, providing power supply, navigation, communication, temperature control and other services for the space station, and is the base camp of the space station. The construction of the entire space station will be completed in 2004, with a service life of 15 years. However, according to the experience of Russia's "Peace", the service life of the space station may be extended. After the completion of the "Alpha" space station, a large "pyramid" with a length of 108 meters and a width of 88 meters will appear in space, becoming the world's most advanced comprehensive scientific research base. Scientists predict that the establishment of the new space station will probably bring breakthroughs to the development of world biology, meteorology, astrophysics, surface exploration and other disciplines. A new era of the world's aerospace industry is coming, but it is only the first step at present. Five years is only a fleeting moment in the long history, but it is a long time for "Alpha", and there are still many unknowns in the future. The Russian aerospace community has had two completely different views on this project from the beginning. Some people believe that this is a revolutionary change in the world's aerospace industry, which can be compared with lunar exploration and has great historic significance; Others believe that this project is a "political advertising game" and will not bring "principled new knowledge" to science. As the implementation of this project has caused Russia to lose its dominance in space control, some people have publicly opposed the implementation of "Alpha". At the same time, Russia's political, economic and social situation has not been stable so far, and the next five years will be the peak of debt repayment. The launch barely passed with the help of the United States. Where will the future funds come from? I'm afraid even the president can't answer. It is a big unknown whether Russia's commitment of $8 billion to $10 billion can be implemented. Moreover, during the implementation of the project, the actual cost is likely to exceed the original budget. The International Space Station project named "Alpha" is jointly built by 11 member countries of the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, Brazil and the European Space Agency. It is unprecedented for 16 countries to carry out such large-scale cooperation, and there are no international laws and regulations to adjust the relationship between "residents" in this "space kingdom". Which country's laws will be enforced within "Alpha"? If Russian astronauts operate mistakes in their experimental module in Japan and cause losses to the space station, what laws will they be punished? What should I do if there are conflicts between laws in various countries? This small international legal problem alone is enough for jurists to worry about, not to mention that in the future work, there will be a series of technical problems to be solved. But in any case, the rocket has taken off with the space station, and there is no way out. It can only move forward, with new hopes for people all over the world. Related information: Three stages of the construction of the International Space Station. The first stage: the preparation stage (1994 ~ 1998) conducted nine docking flights between the American space shuttle and the Russian Mir space station. American astronauts have been sent to work on Mir for nearly three years to train American astronauts' ability to live and work on the space station, and to test the hardware, command, control and various communication programs to be used by the United States and Russia on the International Space Station. The second stage: the initial assembly stage (1998 ~ 2000) to establish an international space mirror? The hoop occupies the residence, cleans the harmony, jealousy the brain house, four leaves ¦¡? Current plans are: on November 20, 1998, the functional cargo bay will be launched with a Russian Proton rocket; On December 3 of the same year, module 1 of the launch node of the US space shuttle was used to dock with the functional cargo hold in orbit; In July 1999, the Proton rocket launch service module was used to dock with them in orbit. Since then, the Soyuz TM spacecraft (for the emergency return of astronauts), the American experimental module, and the multi-purpose spacecraft have been launched one after another. ¢² Take 5? When the on-orbit docking of the American airlock module was completed in January 2000, it marked the end of the second phase. At that time, the first batch of three astronauts will be sent to board the station, and they can use 13 cabinets on the station to conduct experiments. In the document signed by the United States and Russia, it is pointed out that the successful completion of this phase of work is the key to the establishment of the International Space Station. The third stage: the post-assembly stage (2000-2004) mainly completes the assembly of the International Space Station, reaching the ability of 6 to 7 people to work in orbit for a long time. The American truss structure, large solar panels, Canadian mobile service system, Japanese experimental module, European Columbus module, American residential module, Russian research module, etc. will be launched and assembled successively. The "Alpha" magnetic spectrometer developed by China is planned to be installed on the truss of the space station from 2002 to 2003. After the U.S. residential module is assembled in orbit in 2004, the International Space Station can be declared complete.