Three individual solar panels, each measuring one square meter, were severely damaged, likely due to a collision with high-velocity space debris—probably discarded technological junk from previous human space ventures. Two additional panels showed signs of partial damage caused by debris as small as grains of sand. Despite their tiny size, the incredible speed of these particles, combined with the motion of the space station, allowed them to pierce the solar panels with the force and precision of bullets smashing a car’s windshield. To evaluate the extent of the damage, she initially concentrated on the panels with less damage, carefully assessing whether they could be salvaged or if all the panels needed complete replacement.

The monotony was interrupted by a peculiar sensation that made her mind flurry. Soft as a whisper, a gentle, barely perceptible breeze lightly brushed against her right arm, causing a slight shiver. “Impossible,” she dismissed it as mere imagination. She was encased in a pressurized suit 400 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, with no atmosphere capable of generating a breeze. The thought that her suit sleeve might be punctured and losing air filled her with concern. To reassure herself, Elara glanced at the digital readout on her wrist to check the oxygen level and the suit’s pressure. The readings were regular, and her spacesuit’s integrity appeared intact. She once more dismissed it as mere imagination and returned to her job. But the sensation intensified as if she had held her arm before a spinning fan. Her breath became shallow, echoing loudly in her helmet. She quickly checked the readout on her wrist again, which showed nothing unusual. “Is this monitoring device faulty?” The thought crossed her mind, triggering a wave of panic. If her spacesuit were leaking, she could lose pressure and die in a few minutes, if not seconds.

Before she could say anything, John came on the comms and asked, “Is everything okay, Elara? I noticed your high blood pressure and heart racing dangerously fast.”

“I can’t breathe!” she nearly shrieked.

“Why’s that? I don’t see any pressure drop. Your suit’s pressure is stable.”

“The life signs monitoring device must be faulty. I feel a constant breeze against the skin of my right arm,” Elara said in a voice filled with panic.

“Abort! Abort the mission, Elara,” John shouted over the comms. Although his monitor didn’t indicate any issues, it was better to be safe than sorry, so he asked Elara to abort the mission.

Overwhelmed by panic, Elara pushed herself away from the solar arrays and attempted to return to the airlock. However, with her impaired concentration, she lost control of her Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), which made her spin around violently, intensifying her panic. “I can’t do this!” she yelled desperately.

“Elara, calm down. You can do this. You’ve trained for situations like this,” John replied.

“I’m losing air. I’m going to die,” she said, her voice barely intelligible.

“Elara, if you’re losing air, it’s not that serious; otherwise, you would have already died.”

Elara’s sobbing was audible through the comms; she was experiencing a panic attack.

“You can do this, Elara.”

But Elara wasn’t in the right mental state to hear him; panic clouded her judgment.

“Lieutenant, take a deep breath and regain control. This is an order,” John said with authority, understanding that soldiers in shock would respond better to commands than rational conversation. Their intensive military training aimed to condition soldiers to follow orders.

“Yes, sir,” Elara replied weakly.

“Lieutenant, listen to me carefully. Take control of your MMU and return to the airlock ASAP. This is an order.”

“Yes, sir,” she said. After several failed attempts, she regained control of her Manned Maneuvering Unit and slowly but steadily moved toward the space station hall and the airlock. Seeing the hall grow bigger through her helmet’s visor boosted her confidence. “I’m getting closer,” she said joyfully.

“Keep going, Lieutenant, you can make it,” John said authoritatively.

Elara involuntarily laughed as her hand touched the airlock handle. It was a great relief; she was saved.

“Lieutenant, slowly push the lever down and open the airlock’s outer door.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, pushing the lever down.

Standing in the airlock chamber boosted her confidence. She wasn’t going to die alone in Earth orbit. The hiss of air filling the room was the sweetest music to her ears, reassuring her of her safe return. When the inner door of the airlock opened, John, the station commander; Martina, the Italian astronaut and biologist; and Sergey, the Russian cosmonaut, were there to help her. Until then, the readout had shown no faults in her spacesuit. They quickly assisted her in removing the suit and carefully checked it. It appeared intact, but a pressure test would be needed later. Martina handed her a warm drink and said, “Please drink this; it will make you feel better.”

“Thank you,” Elara said, happily sucking the warm drink—hot chocolate—from the container’s nozzle.

When they helped her remove her undergarment, Martina discovered a spider in the right sleeve of her dress. “Where did this spider come from?” she asked.

“This is a space spider,” Sergey teased.

Martina quickly grabbed the spider and transferred it into a sealed glass container. “On the previous mission, the crew researched spiders’ ability to produce silk webs in zero gravity. This one likely escaped from their container.”

“So, all this drama is caused by this ugly spider?” Elara asked.

“It appears so,” John responded.

“It felt like a breeze brushing against my arm,” Elara said.

“The station should be bug-free, so you didn’t expect a spider to be in your suit, which is why your brain interpreted the sensation of the crawling spider on your skin as a breeze—like a breeze brushing against your skin,” Martina explained.

A true blockade of 10-20 years is very common. How long has Cuba been blockade by the US military? How long has Iran been blockade by the US military?

The U.S. blockaded North Korea for 40 years and banned all cargo ships to and from North Korea, and the lack of oil led to North Korean cars being driven only by firewood, and even the transportation of food throughout the country was interrupted, relying on ox carts to transport food out of the fields.

Taiwan Province can’t stand being blockaded for a few days? Don’t underestimate the tenacity of the Taiwanese! 😁

Haven’t the US and Taiwan been blockading the coast of mainland China since 1949 when the PLA navy was weak?

Fortunately China had Hong Kong and Macau for re-export trade.

In 1949, the CPC did not take the initiative to liberate Hong Kong and Macau, and its purpose was to leave Hong Kong and Macau as entrepots.

It wasn’t until the 1990s that the PLA navy grew dominant. But still, the Chinese cargo ship YinHe was detained by US forces.

It was not until the 2000s that mainland China began to develop Shanghai with confidence.

The PLA navy was weak before that, fearing that Shanghai would be attacked, and only dared to develop Shenzhen, which is close to Hong Kong.

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Before 1968, the mainland China’s north-south sea traffic must be bypassed Philippines.

The specific routes are as follows:

the cargo starts from Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province, goes along the western and southern edge of the South China Sea to the Philippines, enters the Pacific Ocean from the northern end of Medan Island, goes eastward to 133 degrees east longitude, then goes northward, enters the East China Sea through Dayu Strait, and finally arrives at Qingdao.

Mainland China cargo ships are afraid to go through the Taiwan Strait for fear of being confiscated (robbery) by the Taiwan Navy.

The only 1 time the PLA passed through the Taiwan Strait without incident, China and Vietnam had a naval battle in the Xisha Islands, and four PLA warships passed through the Taiwan Strait without any attack from Taiwan, which the mainland China has been remembering with gratitude until now.

Is it tough? Did the mainland China complain?

At that time, who sympathized with the 600 million mainland Chinese people?

The Western blockade of Russia was tested on PRC long ago, when the West sanctioned China and even bikinis were embargoed to mainland China. (🤣 Of course banning Russian cats might be a little more hilarious)

An old Chinese saying “A loss, no bad thing or a blessing in disguise (祸兮福所倚，福兮祸所伏)”. Therefore, I think that the sanctions imposed by the West on Russia can be seen as a “good thing”, which can be used to refine the Russian “national spirit” again.

In the 70 years since the founding of the PRC in 1949, the road that mainland China has traveled has not been smooth, but full of difficulties and treacherous obstacles.

While using the navy to blockade the coast of mainland China, United States and Taiwan also want to ridicule the CPC for its lack of economic understanding and lecture the CPC on the need to change the political system, the need to implement “liberal democracy” and that only capitalism can save the PRC economy.

Do you know how the mainlanders have survived the hardships and obstacles, gradually speaking with their own power and even beginning to challenge the “world order (Western System)” shaped by the United States?

Yes, the challenge requires strength, not only economic strength, but also military strength.

October 6, 1958, The Minister of Defense’s [Peng Dehuai] Proclamation to Taiwan Compatriots begins:

Your leaders have for a long time been too outrageous, directing aircraft to fly all over the mainland, reaching as far as Yunnan, Guizhou , Sichuan, Xikang, Qinghai, where they scattered leaflets, dropped spies, bombed Fujian, and harassed Jiangsu and Zhejiang. This is beyond intolerable.

Until this year, Taiwan’s maritime patrols still often use mainland China fishermen crossing the so-called “Taiwan Strait center line” as a reason to detain mainland China fishermen and their fishing boats for no reason, and fines confiscated catches are inevitable.

Contrary to the unkind and unjust actions of the Taiwan authorities, the mainland china has always treated its compatriots in Taiwan as its own family members.

In order to protect the lives and property of Taiwan fishermen and facilitate their shelter and Working at sea, the relevant parties have set up mooring points mainland China along the coast for Taiwan ships to dock directly. Fujian Province alone has 29 mooring points, receiving a large number of Taiwanese fishing vessels and fishermen every year. Statistics for 1993 show that Fujian Province received a total of 8,528 Taiwanese fishing vessels and 35,279 fishermen.

The root cause of Taiwan’s military and police shooting and firing at mainland china fishermen, arbitrarily arresting, inspecting and beating them is that the Taiwanese authorities have so far not abandoned their hostile stance towards the mainland china, treating mainland china coastal fishermen operating at sea as “enemies”.

Of course, the Taiwanese must be actively “forgetting” and not mentioning the bullying they have done, but presenting themselves as “victims”, emphasizing to the world that mainland China is “bullying” them.

After Nixon’s visit to China in 1972 and the stabilization of China-American relations, Mao Zedong sent someone to inspect the opening of the port!

The first stop is Shanghai, because Shanghai can radiate the entire Yangtze River basin, taking into account the south and north, but it can’t do it.

Because at that time, Taiwan’s Kuomintang Navy was the No.1 in Asia (not Japan, the Japanese peace constitution was not loosened before 1990s), far exceeding the strength of the PLA Navy.

The Taiwanese Kuomintang kept blockading the mainland China coast although they lost countless islands in the South China Sea.

In 1978, the mainland China had to choose Shenzhen (a small fishing village) near Hong Kong as the first special economic zone, but Shenzhen could only drive the economy of the Pearl River Delta region, So southern China developed first.

After all, Hong Kong was once under British colonial rule.

Taiwan’s Kuomintang was expert at infighting, but would not offend the British.

After the CPC signed the 9.2 Consensus with the Kuomintang in 1992, Shanghai began to develop gradually.

After 2000, when the Chinese PLA completely suppressed the Taiwanese navy, which only fought civil wars, Shanghai began to take off economically.

This is because the Taiwan Strait can completely separate the north-south shipping of China.

Why does the United States treat Taiwan as the “unsinkable aircraft carrier of the U.S. military” and a key node in containing China’s “first island chain”? Take a look at this chart and you will understand

Taiwan has always been a “shackle” for the United States to restrain China, a point in the first island chain.

Why was the PLA’s navy and air force less powerful than Taiwan’s before the 1990s?

The main reason is still poverty.

Nonetheless, mainland China still finds ways to strengthen its maritime discourse under limited conditions.

In the 1970s, mainland China built the world’s largest concrete ship “Gutian” (named after the Gutian Congress).

1929 Congress of the 4th Chinese Red Army Classroom where the meeting was held. The Gutian Congress or Gutian Conference ( simplified Chinese : 古田会议 ; traditional Chinese : 古田會議 ; pinyin : Gǔtián huìyì ) was the 9th meeting of the 4th Red Army and the first after the Nanchang Uprising and the subsequent southward flight of the rebel troops. It was convened in December 1929 in the town of Gutian in Shanghang County , Fujian Province. [ 1 ] The Congress was important in establishing the principle of party control over the military, which continues to be a core principle of the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party . On behalf of the Central Committee in September 1929, Zhou Enlai wrote a letter to the 4th Red Army affirming Mao Zedong 's view of an armed division composed of workers and peasants. [ 2 ] : 178 The letter emphasized the principle, "First is the Red Army, and later urban political power. This is characteristic of the Chinese revolution, which is a product of China's economic foundation." [ 2 ] : 178 It described the Red Army's basic tasks as "1) mobilizing mass struggle, implementing the agrarian revolution, and establishing the soviet regime, 2) implementing guerilla warfare , arming the peasants, expanding its own organization, and 3) expanding the guerilla's territory and political influence throughout the entire country." [ 2 ] : 304 Acting on this letter, in December 1929 the 4th Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army held its 9th Party Congress at Gutian. [ 2 ] : 178 Most of the delegates to this congress were army men. Mao, voted out six months earlier but moving from his success at the Jiaoyang Congress (also in Shanghang), addressed the Zhu-Mao 4th Army ( 朱毛四军 ) as its Comintern -anointed political commissar and chaired the congress. Mao emphasized the importance of a politically and ideologically-aligned military to the success of the Communist Party . [ 1 ] Mao stated that the Red Army was "an armed group that carries out the political work of the revolution" and that "[i]n addition to fighting to destroy the enemy's power, it must also bear the burden of propagating, organizing, and arming the masses and helping them establish revolutionary regimes and even build the Communist Party." [ 2 ] : 304–305 According to Mao, "This is the whole purpose behind winning the war, and the very purpose for which the army exists." [ 2 ] : 305 The Resolution adopted following the Congress (the Gutian Congress Resolution or 古田会议决议 ) also emphasized the connection between war and politics, including the class nature of war. [ 2 ] : 289 According to the Resolution, the Party's leading organs in the army must become "the central leadership" and that all major issues discussed at Party Committee meetings must be "resolutely implemented". [ 2 ] : 307 The Resolution stated that the Red Army must be organized democratically . [ 2 ] : 321 The Resolution also called for the criticism of what was seen as excessive democratic deliberati

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutian_Congress

In mainland China at that time, due to the lack of steel, experts in the field of shipbuilding came up with a bold idea: we could build ships out of concrete. It was inexpensive, materials were easily available, construction equipment and construction techniques were simple, maintenance costs were low, and wood and steel could be saved.

However, it was retired in 1977 due to its inherent defects, such as heavy hull and inability to withstand collisions.

Previously, there were a large number of concrete boats in mainland China, but now all of them have been replaced by steel boats, and there may still be a small number of concrete boats in the inland rivers.

Now, China’s steel production has reached the world’s first, and shipbuilding technology has advanced. So the navy has been developed like never before.

May 1980, PLA Navy Commander Liu Huaqing looked enviously at the U.S. aircraft carrier.

The current PLA Navy, Taiwan no longer has the strength to act as a “yoke” for the United States to restrain China.

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China has become so strong that all these past unpleasantnesses can be forgotten.

Brotherhood will survive all vicissitudes, and a smile is all we need to dissolve old grudges.