After being delayed for nearly ten hours due to medical examination matters, Zhang Xingyang finally boarded the helicopter heading to the manufacturing base.
It was already late at night, but the rocket manufacturing base was still brightly lit.
Engineers at the base are conducting final inspections on the rocket body and various parts that are about to be packed for shipment.
Make sure there are no problems with the rocket when it leaves the factory.
"The first-stage rocket has now been inspected and is ready for loading and transportation at any time."
Geng Bo seriously reported on the progress of the current rocket inspection.
"It will take about four hours to complete the inspection of the second-stage rocket and escape tower."
The various electronic equipment and safety equipment used in the second-stage rocket and escape tower are very complex, and these equipment are not only related to the scientific research mission of the manned spacecraft in space, but also directly related to the life safety of astronauts.
There is no room for carelessness or carelessness.
So even if Geng Bo verbally said that the inspection was completed, the Rockets did not have any problems.
But Zhang Xingyang still checked carefully and signed the rocket factory inspection report, which was cross-checked and signed by multiple engineers.
The current production responsibility system adopted by manufacturing bases means that if there is a problem with the parts you are responsible for producing or inspecting, you will be severely held accountable.
In serious cases, you may even go to jail.
Zhang Xingyang carefully checked the test report and found that there were no problems from the above data.
If the factory inspection can do this, it is considered acceptable.
And in fact, after the rocket assembly is completed at the Jiuquan Launch Center's final assembly plant, it will undergo a more stringent inspection.
At that time, even the attitude control chip pins on the rocket will be tested to see if they are normal.
"It doesn't look like a big problem right now."
Zhang Xingyang closed a dozen thick reports in his hand and said to Geng Bo.
In front of them was a first-stage rocket that was slowly transferring.
Although the rocket can reach speeds of tens of Mach when launched, its transportation speed on land is very slow.
For example, now, a first-stage rocket with a length of nearly fifty meters and a weight of nearly a hundred tons without fuel is lying on a transfer vehicle with a huge chassis and can only move at a speed of about five kilometers per hour.
Although the distance from the first stage rocket leaving the assembly plant to being transported on a special train is less than eight kilometers.
But for such a small distance, the transfer vehicle took nearly two hours to travel.
And there was a large team of engineers working next to the rocket transport vehicle throughout the entire process.
Once any problems arise with the rocket during transportation, they will be able to deal with it in time.
The rocket launch site this time, because it was deep inland, was different from the seaside launch base they were familiar with before.
The overall transportation cannot be carried out by sea transportation with huge transportation capacity.
Therefore, the engineers put great effort into this transportation work and tried to ensure that the rocket would not cause any problems during transportation.
Fortunately, there were no unexpected incidents during the two-hour transfer process.
The huge first-stage rocket arrived at the train platform waiting for it at the scheduled time.
The train station itself was set up as a rocket manufacturing base, and there is no passenger transportation business.
This time, in order to ensure that there would be no accidents during the transportation process, during the process of loading the first-stage rocket, all places within a kilometer around the train station were searched.
"Geng Bo, I leave the task of escorting the first-stage rocket to you!"
A few hours later, the first-stage rocket finally completed its task of being loaded onto the train and fixed to prevent it from rolling during transportation.
At the same time, in order to ensure the safety of rocket transportation, Geng Bo will take this train as the person in charge.
Before the train set off, Zhang Xingyang gave Geng Bo serious warnings in advance:
"If you encounter any problems that cannot be solved, remember to ensure the safety of the rocket first. Everything else is secondary. If you have any questions, call me."
Although the probability of problems in train transportation is extremely low compared to other modes of transportation, Zhang Xingyang is still not very reassured.
After all, the probability of any unexpected occurrence is not zero.
The two most feared situations for train transportation are natural disasters, such as flash floods and mudslides.
The second scenario is a train collision.
Flash floods and mudslides are relatively easy to deal with. It is difficult to directly cause damage to the rockets on the train. The biggest danger is that it may cause train jams.
A train collision is a lot more troublesome, not only may it cause casualties, but the huge impact force may also cause damage to the rocket.
But no matter how worried Zhang Xingyang was, the train carrying the rocket still set off as scheduled.
From the manufacturing base to the Jiuquan launch center, almost half of the country is traversed.
Even though this trip is a special train, there will be almost no stops on the way except for the necessary work of adding water and sand.
But most of today's train speeds will not exceed 140KM/h, and for transportation safety, the maximum speed of this train will not exceed 100KM/h.
Therefore, it takes at least 35 hours to transport to Jiuquan Launch Center.
Zhang Xingyang is responsible for the two-stage rocket and escape tower parts with more complex components.
These two parts will be transported by road due to the sensitivity of the parts.
The whole journey is more than 4,000 kilometers!
The length of the second-stage rocket is less than twenty meters. Although it is also a behemoth, it is a little guy compared to the first-stage rocket that is almost twice as long.
The extra-long rocket-specific carrier truck can park directly at the door of the manufacturing base.
Then a large crane capable of lifting 120 tons was lifted and the second-stage rocket was slowly lifted onto the truck.
The rocket is firmly fixed in the carriage through special latches and fixing bolts.
After using the ancestral three-color plastic sheet to complete the outermost layer of camouflage, this rocket transport vehicle, which looks ordinary and even a bit earthy, has completed the loading work.
As for the transportation of the escape tower, it is even more convenient, because its size is the smallest here, only less than five meters, and even an ordinary truck can fit it.
By the time the sun went up, these two important components of the rocket had all completed preparations for transportation.
This transportation work is very important, so there are two jeeps in front and behind the transport vehicle responsible for road clearing and safety work.
Once they encounter any special situation, they will come down to guard the rocket transport vehicle.
But basically they won't encounter any special situations.
After all, at the front of the convoy, there will be two police cars with lights flashing, responsible for coordinating traffic.
The 4,000 kilometers of road transportation takes far longer than the 35 hours required for rail transportation.
Although each car is equipped with three drivers, people can't rest, and the car has to run for 4,000 kilometers.
So in the end, the convoy led by Zhang Xingyang was almost 28 hours behind Geng Bo's railway transportation.
It took almost three days and three nights on the road before we finally reached our destination.
"Thank you for your hard work!"
The current commander-in-chief of the Shenzhou-3 manned project is Zhao Tianming.
After Zhang Xingyang escorted the second-stage rocket and escape tower to the Jiuquan Launch Center assembly plant, he immediately waited at the assembly plant.
"It's nothing hard, Commander Zhao."
After Zhang Xingyang got off the car, although he felt a little uncomfortable, he didn't say much.
The highway construction work these days has not started on a large scale.
In many places, there are only asphalt roads to walk on, but because there are so many vehicles, potholes have appeared on these asphalt roads.
When walking this kind of road, you can feel bumps almost all the time.
Even Zhang Xingyang, who had always been in good physical condition, felt nauseous and wanted to vomit.
Fortunately, the last section of road leading to the Jiuquan launch base was in good repair, which made everyone in the convoy feel more relaxed.
Otherwise, Zhao Tianming would have seen the people arriving immediately jumping out of the car and vomiting wildly.
"The second stage rocket has begun vertical work."
Zhao Tianming was obviously also an outspoken person. Without too much politeness to Zhang Xingyang who had just got off the car, he directly chatted about the rocket assembly work.
During the transportation process, the rockets are always laid flat for transportation, so during the final assembly, the first thing to do is to erect the rockets that were originally lying flat.
Arriving at the rocket factory, the first-stage rocket, which is more than 40 meters high, has completed its vertical work.
Engineers at the assembly plant are currently conducting preliminary inspections of the first-stage rocket.
Take a look at the first-stage rocket to see if there are any problems during transportation.
"Now that the first-stage rocket has completed its verticalization work, let's hurry up and check the second-stage rocket as well!"
After Zhang Xingyang calmed down for a few minutes, he felt that he had come out of his uncomfortable state, so he couldn't wait to start working.
"Dean Zhang, don't you need to rest?"
Zhao Tianming looked at Zhang Xingyang who seemed to be very energetic and said with some surprise.
"I don't have to rest."
After Zhang Xingyang finished speaking, he seemed to have thought of something and looked at the other people behind him who were not in good condition:
"But they should need a day off. Commander Zhao, please arrange it."
Not everyone has as much energy as Zhang Xingyang, especially on-board engineers who work almost three shifts. Although there are no situations in transportation projects that require them to work intensively.
However, they were still on alert during the transportation process, which also resulted in a great loss of energy.
Many people now look like they are on the verge of collapse.
Zhao Tianming and the others had already expected such a situation.
This is why I was so surprised when I saw Zhang Xingyang seemed to be fine.
Engineers at the assembly plant carefully removed the various latches and fixing bolts used for fixation on the transport vehicle.
Then, the second-stage rocket was gently unloaded through the crane in the factory.
The vertical work of the second-stage rocket is simpler than that of the first-stage rocket, which takes several hours because of its smaller height.
But it also took the engineers in the assembly plant two hours.
However, after the second-stage rocket is erected, it will not be assembled with the first-stage rocket immediately.
Instead, final assembly will begin only after preliminary inspections are completed.
This is also for the sake of follow-up inspection of the rocket.
If the problem is detected after the final assembly is completed, it will be much more difficult to solve because of the height of the rocket.
Hoisting has not started yet, and even if some problems are discovered, they can be solved in time.
It saves follow-up time and facilitates inspection work.
While the engineers were working intensively.
Zhao Tianming found Zhang Xingyang who looked like the Optimus Pillar under the rocket.
"It is expected that the final assembly work will be completed in three days."
"If everything goes well, we will be ready to launch Shenzhou-3 in a month."
Zhao Tianming also looked at the Shenzhou-3 manned spacecraft and said with some emotion.
This day, which domestic astronauts have been waiting for for many years, is finally coming to fruition!
The people of the Dragon Kingdom will finally enter the vast space on a spaceship designed and manufactured by themselves.
This mysterious place that once belonged only to those developed countries will finally lift its mysterious veil to the hard-working and capable Chinese people.
Although they have been facing various pressures from Yingjiang, domestic astronauts have still grown up vigorously.
"What will the weather be like that day? Has the meteorological department made a forecast?"
Zhang Xingyang asked worriedly.
Because the weather this year is quite weird, it is almost September, but two typhoon embryos have still appeared in the Pacific Ocean close to our country.
Although these two typhoon embryos are unlikely to develop into super typhoons, they may still have a drastic impact on the subtropical high.
If a large amount of water vapor is really transported inland, although it will be a good thing for many areas that are relatively dry this year, it is not good news for rocket launches.
"The meteorological department's supercomputer has made special predictions. They believe that the two typhoon embryos currently in the Pacific will be difficult to upgrade to typhoon level."
"However, if they continue to move now, they may transport a large amount of water vapor to the northwest of our country. They have made special explanations to us about this."
When Zhao Tianming talked about this, he didn't feel particularly optimistic.
Because judging from the current atmospheric conditions, it is almost certain that a large amount of water vapor will enter the northwest.
It’s just that I don’t know how much water vapor can be. I came to the Jiuquan Launch Center in the northwest.
Zhao Tianming is still relatively optimistic:
"The Pacific Ocean is far away from us. Even if the water vapor can penetrate deep into the interior, it can only reach the Qinling Mountains at best and cannot reach us."
Zhang Xingyang needs to be more conservative. After all, in his opinion, as long as there is a chance, then such a situation must be taken into consideration.
"We'd better be more prepared."
At this time, Zhang Xingyang was a little nostalgic for an invention of later generations.
Ultra-long-distance microwave power transmission technology.
This technology, when first invented, was used to transmit electrical energy generated by space power stations to the ground.
But later, everyone discovered that it had another use.
Under a specific frequency band, the atmospheric conditions can be changed.
For example, microwaves can be used to adjust the generation conditions of typhoon embryos, so that typhoons that are originally only tropical storm levels can be upgraded to super typhoons.
Likewise, a super typhoon can be downgraded to a tropical storm.
After more in-depth research and experiments, it has a more well-known name, weather controller! (End of chapter)
