There was silence in the conference room.
No one dared to suggest anything.
Because... when they heard that the insulation tiles "seemed" to have "scratches", everyone's mind was reminded of the disaster 23 years ago.
——In 2003, Columbia also launched here, but it disintegrated on its way back to Earth after completing its mission.
The bodies of the seven astronauts were gone.
The cause of the accident was that during takeoff, a piece of foam fell off at high speed and hit and damaged the insulation tiles of the wing.
During the return process, high-speed friction with the air caused high-temperature airflow to enter the wings, eventually causing the entire spacecraft to disintegrate.
The Columbia crash and the previous Challenger accident were important reasons why NASA slowed down the pace of space exploration in the following years.
It can be said that hearing these three words "insulating tile" makes people tremble with fear.
Director Powers exhaled slowly in the silence.
"Prepare a plan and give it to the White House."
…
There was a lot of bustle in the white house.
"President, the cause of the failure can be initially determined to be that the supply cabin is too heavy, and the center of gravity shifted so that the attitude changed, and there was no time to adjust. Abandoning the supply cabin is the best option."
"What can be determined so far is that they lost some equipment and some materials and tools for building the base. There are no problems with food and space equipment."
"In other words, they can only do some basic research and inspections when they go up there, and bring back lunar soil and other mineral resources."
"Of course, these are not important. What is important is that there are scratches on the heat insulation tiles of the spacecraft, and it is very likely to have been damaged, but how serious it is will not be determined until the deceleration is completed and people are sent out for inspection. "
"But it's not important..."
Listening to the scientific consultant's verbosity, the owner, who was already a little impatient, roared angrily: "Then what is important?"
"As long as there are flaws in the insulation tiles, we won't dare let them return on Artemis."
The scientific advisor looked at the owner of the house and said, "None of us can afford another Columbia accident."
The owner of the white house immediately fell silent when he heard the Columbia.
“Is it because of the insulated tiles in Colombia?”
"Yes, sir."
"Kennedy gave three plans. The first is to execute Plan D and merge with the orbit, and be picked up and returned by other spacecraft. The second is to execute Plan C, land again, complete a small part of the mission and then merge with the orbit. The third Just log in and ask them for help."
The science advisor pursed his lips and looked at the TV.
Of course, there is no news on the TV now.
"Now, Yaoyue has entered the landing stage. Their spacecraft is fully loaded with eighty people, and there is enough space..."
The master's eyebrows instantly rose, and uncontrollable surprise rose in his eyes.
"Sir, this is currently the best... and the safest, and most cost-effective solution."
"Then how are you sure they can bring people back?"
After a few seconds of silence, the scientific advisor whispered: "If we can't bring it back, it's not our responsibility."
*
*
When NASA announced that Artemis was back in orbit and interrupted the live broadcast, most of the audience focused on the moon landing of the Yaoyue probe.
At the Provincial Brain Computer Center, everyone gathered in the coffee shop on the fifth floor again.
The screen on the TV was showing the Yaoyue number descending in the sky "carefully and happily".
In the picture, Yaoyue's main engine has stopped ejecting material, leaving only the attitude engine ejecting plasma beams.
This kind of landing is almost a naked display. Yaoyue is using the anti-gravity field.
Moreover, in the connection between the command center and Yaoyue, apart from the attitude engine, the most mentioned status report was about the "force field".
You said, with the blessing of such "black technology", what suspense is there?
As a result, everyone was in a very relaxed mood, and the situation of Artemis was inevitably discussed again.
But since there are no more details, everyone can only guess.
"First of all, exclude them from carrying forward their style, and let Yaoyue win the first place to land on the moon this century."
"Hahaha, I think the most likely reason is that the landing posture was wrong, and then I took off again and tried again."
"It's possible, but maybe they forgot something? Aren't they very well prepared this time? They sent supplies to orbit several times in the early stage."
"You're just too amateurish to guess... How can aerospace engineering be so careless?"
"I'm not sure. The United States has dropped space shuttles twice."
"Ahem... say something nice. If they really get into trouble, we can still be saved."
"Yeah, but it's too late to save us now. The Yao Yue is about to land, and it will be at least a month before it takes off again."
Everyone was busy discussing, but Qi and Mo still hugged their cousin's slender waist and watched the TV without blinking.
At this time, the screen has switched to the vision of Yaoyuehao.
On the screen, Yaoyue is getting closer and closer to the moon, and the desolate and desolate lunar surface can be clearly seen.
"Xichang, Yaoyue will start the landing procedure in three hundred seconds."
"Xichang received it. Invite the moon to perform a pre-landing force field inspection."
"The invitation to the moon has been received. The force field generator is in good condition, running stably, and all data is normal."
"Xichang received it, please pay attention to your posture."
"I received the invitation to the moon."
Following the conversation, Yaoyue began the landing procedure.
The landing speed of the spacecraft also slowed down at a speed visible to the naked eye.
If the Yaoyue No. was like a sinking ship in the water before, now it has turned into a light fallen leaf.
So...a magical scene appeared on the barrages on all live broadcast platforms.
"Damn it, this speed... makes me have high blood pressure."
"The speed at which this old lady is crossing the road...can you please calculate the speed?"
"According to visual inspection, the speed does not exceed 2 meters per second. This is purely the speed of an elevator."
"A stable batch!"
"Come on Yaoyuehao!"
Amidst countless anxious "urges", the earth is getting closer and closer. ,
Along with a puff of smoke and dust, the picture of Yaoyuehao stopped changing.
Everyone held their breath at the same time.
On the TV, there was also silence.
Yang Hongbo, the captain of Yaoyue and a veteran astronaut with many spaceflight experiences, who had been in contact with Ye Ming, took a deep breath.
This tone was heard by people all over the world.
After a moment, Captain Yang's voice sounded with a smile.
"Xichang, this is Yaoyue. I have successfully reached the moon. Yaoyue is in good condition."
"Xichang received it, the moon number is requested, and we are ready to connect to the capital for communications."
…
In the Xichang command hall, everyone stood up at the same time, and applause and cheers resounded.
Starting from the week before the ignition of Yaoyue, the scientists and engineers in the entire command hall had entered a state of tension. Especially in the past few days, many people had not even slept at all.
Everyone has lost weight visibly.
Now that the Yao Yue has landed successfully, that means... half of the long march of thousands of miles has been completed.
The remaining missions, although also risky, are at least not as scary as they are now.
Ye Ming hugged and shook hands with Director Zhang, and waved to everyone behind him... He walked quickly to his lounge.
He desperately needed to close his eyes and get some rest, even if he couldn't sleep.
…
That night, the news channel broadcast the full coverage of the landing of Yaoyuehao. All leaders attended the congratulatory meeting and the connection with Yaoyuehao.
Of course, the entire country has fallen into a collective carnival without the need for deliberate "contrast" by news channels.
Countless people posted posts to raise their glasses to the moon—although they could only invite the first quarter moon.
All social media and media pages were occupied by the news that the Yaoyue mission successfully landed on the moon with more than 60 people.
The aerospace community in various countries expressed their congratulations.
This includes NASA.
Of course, not all media outlets expressed congratulations.
In particular, some media that are dedicated to smearing the country express a strong sour taste in their words, not to mention that Pili Yangqiu said, "I hope this will not be the beginning of a space monopoly and colonization." .
Well... this shows how wise it was for Yaoyue not to continue broadcasting the execution of the lunar landing mission.
…
8pm Earth time.
Six hours after the Yaoyue number landed.
South Pole of the Moon.
Yaoyuehao base.
As the first batch of humans to land on the moon, Captain Yang Hongbo did not say any "lofty adverbials" when he stepped on the moon. Instead, he simply took everyone for a group photo and started working.
after all……
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” is a really awesome saying.
No matter what people say on the moon later, they will never be able to surpass this sentence.
And… there’s still so much work to be done, need I say it?
Just do it and you're done!
The first thing to do is naturally to build the energy system.
Under the sun, dozens of people went out to unfold the prefabricated solar panels one by one towards the sun.
Subsequently, Li Dongsheng and other engineering staff began to use engineering robotic arms to complete line docking.
"The fourth area solar panel connection is completed."
"The solar panel connection in the first area is completed."
"The solar panel connection in the third area is completed."
“All solar panels have been installed and connected to the grid.”
"Xichang, I have completed the connection of solar panels to the grid."
"Invite the moon to carry out the grid connection auxiliary project."
"receive."
Listening to Ye Ming's voice coming from the command center again, Li Dongsheng looked back at the sunlight that was too dazzling to look directly at, and pressed the personal intercom.
"Commander Ye, take a rest."
"Haha, Captain Li, if you don't take a break, how can I have the nerve to take a break?"
After a while, Ye Ming's voice continued: "How is the factory equipment? Have you finished the inspection?"
"Lao Liu and the others are inspecting it. Everything is going well so far. We will determine the address of the factory tomorrow."
As he spoke, Li Dongsheng looked around.
Under the sun, the geological exploration team members have already driven the lunar rover and are returning.
"Well, whether you can return successfully... depends on you."
"no problem!"
"By the way, haven't you seen Artemis yet?"
"No, aren't they coming?"
"Well... you may want to be prepared. According to the news, there is something wrong with Artemis's heat insulation layer, making it difficult to re-enter the atmosphere."
"What the hell?!"
Li Dongsheng tiptoed and walked briskly on the lunar soil: "Do they want our help?"
Ye Ming laughed: "Currently, they are just releasing the news. I guess...sooner or later they will have to ask us to help."
During the conversation between the two, the lunar rover gradually approached.
After a moment, the geological captain’s voice rang in everyone’s ears.
"Good news! We found a lot of water ice! And we can see that there is iron ore nearby!"
(End of chapter)
