Alumnus He Yu, Chief Commander of Shenzhou-12 Spaceship System

He Yu is the General Commander of the Shenzhou XII spacecraft system launched on June 17, which is the country’s 1st crewed mission during the construction of the space station. He graduated from Tianjin University in 1994.

Born in Baoding, Hebei province in 1971, He Yu is working for the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). He has participated in work related to the Shenzhou I-VII spacecraft, and completed 3 major national tasks- the Tiangong I / Shenzhou IX, the Tiangong I / Shenzhou X, and the Tiangong II / Shenzhou XI manned spaceflight missions.

Be interest-led in college study

The year 1990 saw He enter Tianjin University’s Department of Electronic Engineering. As he recalled, at that time technologies related with digital TVs were thriving, and the department offered many pragmatic courses and valued the cultivation of operational abilities. Together with his roommates, He Yu once tried to design and assemble acoustics equipment. “We designed the circuits, bought components and parts like printed plates and loudspeakers online, made plates, welded materials and made boxes with boards,” said He, “Looking back, our work was rather rough as we could not ensure its quality despite of using the right theory. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the process and spared no efforts to do it. Interest is always the best teacher.”

Be down-to-earth in work

Mr. He joined the Fifth Academy of CASC after his graduation in July, 1994 when China just started its manned space program from scratch. During the construction of the Aerospace Town, He was responsible for a technological upgrading project - building a fault recovery and adaptation laboratory.

“In those days, there was nothing in the lab. No data processing software, no data channels, no projection systems, and no sound systems. We had to assemble those on our own.” That episode is still fresh in his memory till today. With Mr. He and his coworkers’ efforts, the lab gradually took shape and played a significant and effective role in the spaceflight control of the Shenzhou I.

In 2002, He Yu undertook the task to develop the spacecraft simulation system, the core module of the first generation astronaut training simulator. This work was unprecedented and pioneering with no ready-made plan to learn from. Mr. He had to come up with the overall working plan and saw to the smooth operation of the project. .

After carefully analyzing astronauts’ demands and the producers’ manufacturing ability, Mr. He led his colleagues to dig into available data, learn about relevant spacecraft subsystems and consulted experienced experts. In less than half a year, the space simulator system was debugged and put into use for astronaut training.

China started its second step of the manned space program after the Shenzhou VI had completed its mission in 2005. He Yu was then appointed as the program’s Deputy General Designer. In 2007, he was assigned to participate in the final assembly of the Shenzhou VIII because of his rich experiences on spacecraft development.

He Yu built his career path in the aerospace field from an ordinary engineer to Deputy Chief Designer, Chief Designer, Deputy General Designer and General Commander successively, and has participated in the development of many Shenzhou spacecrafts and Tiangong space labs.

Be an engineer in astronauts’ shoes

“Be a thoughtful engineer” has always been his motto, and he upholds the principle of “never leave out any detail”. When working as an engineer of the Shenzhou V spacecraft, he tried every possible operation by astronauts in the capsule in person.

“Astronauts are spacecraft users. We have to stand in their shoes when doing design work,” said He Yu. It occurred to him that astronauts need to enter the re-entry capsule from the orbital capsule to board a spacecraft. Then do footplate, handrail and other auxiliary devices meet their demands? If astronauts must leave the capsule for emergencies, will these devices hook their spacesuit and lower their speed? He simulated all of these circumstances himself to ensure that astronauts could enter and leave the capsule in a more secure and reliable way.

He Yu’s hard work was well recognized. He won the Grand Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, the National May Labor Day Medal, the China Youth May 4th Medal, the Tsang Hin-chi Space Development Fund, the Outstanding Contribution Award of China Manned Aerospace Engineering and so on.

He Yu (the 2nd from the right) is awarded “Technology Person of the Year of 2016”.

Over the past 27 years, China’s manned space program has transformed He Yu from zero to hero, from an ordinary engineer to an experienced expert. As a TJU alumnus, Mr. He expressed his regards to all TJUers, “In this great era, I hope every student could make full use of their time, grasp as much knowledge as possible and render service to the country and the people.”

By Li Yan

Editor: Eva Yin