The entire Moon colonization plan was divided into three steps.
In order to demonstrate Celestial Trade's aerospace capabilities to the public, the entire colonization process would be broadcasted live to the world 24 hours a day on the official website.
The first rocket to be launched was called Celestial 4, which was Celestial Trade's largest carrier rocket. As a rocket to the Moon, it was different from other rockets in the Celestial series. It adopted a three-stage propulsion mode similar to normal rockets. As the first rocket, it would carry tools, materials, some daily necessities, and two pilots for the colonists to build the base.
For the arrival of this day, Kelvin and the staff of the space launch center had been preparing for too long.
Inside the launch center, not only the staff, but also reporters from major media outlets, observers from the United Nations Space Agency, the UA, France, Hua, Russia, and Britain, as well as the president of Future Group, Jiang Chen.
When the order to ignite was issued, under the watchful eyes of the public, the thick fog quickly dispersed from the launch site. With a long trajectory, Celestial 4 carried the hope and pride of the people of Xin and flew into the blue sky.
Landing on the Moon was a long waiting process.
After the launch, the rocket did not fly in a straight line to the Moon. It had to undergo several orbital changes.
Celestial 4 first entered the standby orbit, which was a circular orbit around the Earth. The spacecraft operated like a satellite here. The two pilots conducted various checks on the spacecraft. After confirming that all equipment was normal, they decided whether to depart to the Moon. If there were problems, they would return to Earth and cancel the launch.
Everyone's heart was in their throats. Their eyes were locked on the holographic screen in front of them, as well as the green dot around the Earth.
After a few hours of waiting, there was feedback from the standby orbit. "Everything is normal."
Calvin let out a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from his palms, and ordered in a deep voice.
"Celestial 4 is normal. Depart to the Moon!"
"… Roger."
After receiving the order from the ground command center, "Celestial 4" rotated in the standby orbit for a week and a half. The three-stage rocket ignited again, seized the opportunity, and entered the Moon orbit at a speed of nearly 11 kilometers per second.
So far, the entire launch plan was more than half successful.
Kelvin breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his cheeks.
He didn't do any strenuous work, but he felt like he was soaked.
Reporters from major media outlets stepped forward with cameras and microphones to interview him. But he just waved his hand, handed the opportunity to speak to his assistant, and walked in the direction of the lounge.
"Congratulations, Mr. Jiang. So far, the launch procedure has been smooth. If there are no accidents in the next sixty hours, you will become the second country in the world to successfully send humans to the Moon. "Henry, the United Nations observer, walked in front of Jiang Chen and extended his hand.
Since Celestial Trade launched the first rocket, he stayed on Coro Island because of Xin's frequent space activities. In the beginning, he was still quite resentful, but Jiang Chen provided him with good food and drinks, so he couldn't complain. In the past two years, he had gained a lot of weight and was used to life in Xin.
After the completion of Penglai City, he simply bought a house there and decided not to return to New York after retirement. He would settle here directly.
It could be said that he watched Xin's aerospace progress from the beginning to today's manned moon landing. Regardless of his position, he was sincerely happy for Celestial Trade.
"Thank you for your kind words," Jiang Chen said with a smile. He glanced at the reporters who were trying to break through the bodyguards and then said, "Let's eat something. I haven't eaten a single grain of rice since this morning."
"Me too," Henry said with a smile and walked to the cafeteria with Jiang Chen.
Because there were more foreign guests, the cafeteria staff also cooked a sumptuous dinner. Jiang Chen saw the UA delegation sitting in the corner, chewing on pork chops, fried shrimp, and ham while talking about Celestial Trade's launch today.
Obviously, they were shocked by Celestial Trade's smooth launch.
Although they successfully sent people from Earth to the Moon in the 1960s, they only succeeded from the failed Apollo 1 to Apollo 11. Only NASA knew how much effort, sacrifice, and budget had been put into this project.
However, the most difficult obstacles to landing on the Moon were easily overcome by Celestial Trade, which shocked them and made them deeply depressed.
Perhaps, as the officials of the Department of Defense revealed to them, Celestial Trade was already ahead of the UA in missile technology, and launch vehicles were just another form of expression of this technological advantage.
After dinner, Jiang Chen met with the representatives of the UA, France, Hua, Russia, and Britain. Regardless of their position, they first congratulated him. But at the same time, these representatives from various countries also asked about Celestial Trade's next plan.
Jiang Chen told him all the information he could reveal.
As for the information involving corporate secrets, Jiang Chen would not disclose any information no matter how the other party probed.
Until ten o 'clock, reporters from major media were still lingering in the reception hall of the launch center. Jiang Chen did not spend time with these reporters and went to the dormitory arranged for him by the staff. He would stay on this island for the next few days until the entire launch mission was completed.
How could he miss this moment of witnessing history?
Representatives of other countries also thought the same. They all rejected the hotels arranged by Celestial Trade and asked the staff to arrange dormitories for them. Even if the accommodation was a bit shabby, no one complained.
The next day, "Celestial 4" shuttled through the dark space. The three-stage rocket was extinguished and its speed was getting slower and slower. When it reached the middle of the Earth-Moon transfer orbit, the speed had dropped to 3,000 meters per second.
On the third day, "Celestial 4"'s three-stage rocket reignited and entered the Moon's orbit.
By this time, "Celestial 4" had arrived at the closest point to the Moon.
However, it did not begin to land immediately. At this time, its speed was quite fast. It needed to adjust the phase several times in the elliptical orbit and descend from a 12-hour orbit to a 127-minute orbit before it could begin to land.
The ground command center and the astronauts on the rocket also ushered in the most critical moment before landing!
If the speed of the rocket was not well controlled, it would be easy for the rocket to leave the orbit, and the remaining fuel was not enough to correct the orbit. The final result would be the entire rocket becoming uncontrollable "space junk". The astronauts could only lie in the hibernation chamber and wait for many years for the technology to allow it before being picked up by future generations to end its hibernation.
But fortunately, no accidents occurred.
According to the orbit calculated by the quantum computer, Celestial 4 successfully hit the scheduled landing site on the Moon.
It took 67 hours.
At the moment when the Moon dust rose, all the staff, including Calvin, as well as the observers from the United Nations Space Agency and the UA, France, Hua, Russia, and Britain, couldn't help but wave their fists, applaud, and cheer.
Even if they had different nationalities, at this moment, they were all human beings, looking up at the first step of mankind into the galaxy.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
