"Musk, this bastard!"
Bolden slammed the documents in his hand on the desk and sat down on the boss chair. His breathing was so heavy that it almost spurted out fire.
As the director of NASA, he had always favored SpaceX and regarded it as the representative of UA private aerospace companies. Whenever there was a good project, the first one he thought of was SpaceX, but Musk now told him that they outsourced the supply mission of the International Space Station to Celestial Trade?
What The Fuck！
How dare they, how can they do this!
Traitor, this is blatant betrayal!
The other employees in the office were silent. Even Bolden's assistant couldn't help but speed up when he passed by his desk. Everyone knew why the grumpy old man was angry. SpaceX actually outsourced the International Space Station mission, and even they found it hard to believe.
The aerospace market was a highly segmented market. Generally speaking, even if the launch price of SpaceX was low, Hua and Russia would not give their own launch projects to SpaceX. Each country's market only had 10-30 launch missions a year at most. They were already struggling to feed their own aerospace companies, so how could they let others do the work?
Russia's outsourcing of supply missions to Celestial Trade was an exception. On the one hand, it was because of its own economic situation, and on the other hand, it was because Jiang Chen promised to sell the RM-320 rocket engine used by Celestial Trade to the Russian Aerospace Company … Although the RM-320 was now eliminated by Celestial Trade, Jiang Chen did fulfill the contract.
But in the UA, there would never be such an accident.
What infuriated Bolden the most was that he had once touted the Falcon 10 rocket in Congress, calling it an "epoch-making technology", "a rocket that will change the future of mankind", "the hope of the United States", and a bunch of other free titles on the project that had yet to produce results.
But now, Musk told him – "Sorry, our Falcon 10 rocket development plan has been canceled."
Oh! God! I will definitely become the laughing stock of Congress!
Just as Bolden was about to explode in anger, his assistant walked over while trembling and said, "Musk is outside. He said he's looking for you if there's anything."
Bolden raised his eyebrows, forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart, and said to his assistant, "Let him see me."
"Yes …" The assistant nodded and quickly left.
He knew that his boss was on the edge of a volcano. The reason why it didn't roar out loud was because it was the calm before the storm.
Soon, the office door was pushed open, and a man in a coat walked in.
Bolden snorted with a nasal voice, and his sharp eyes stared at him.
"I was just about to look for you, but you delivered yourself to my doorstep."
Musk coughed and said. "Listen to my explanation …"
"Explain it to the Congress." Bolden scolded, "How dare you outsource subsidized projects to foreign companies! Are you crazy for money?!"
"Of course I will explain to the Congress. In fact, I am already preparing the materials for the hearing."
He had to prepare. If he didn't come up with a reasonable explanation, the misers in the Budget Committee might directly take him from the Congressional hearing to the federal court.
After a pause, Musk continued without turning red, "There is one thing I must clarify. I only outsourced the launch mission to Celestial Trade, but the supply work is still done by us."
Bolden, who was still angry, sneered and said, "What's the difference?"
"Do you think it makes sense to travel to and from the ground and geosynchronous orbit by chemical rockets?" Musk asked rhetorically.
Bolden raised his eyebrows and was about to speak, but he suddenly froze.
Yes, the space elevator has been completed. What is the point of continuing to develop chemical rockets? That is not the future at all!
Just now, he was so angry that he couldn't think calmly because he lost his mind. Now that he calmed down and thought about it, it was not a bad choice to give up the Falcon series of rockets. As an expert in the aerospace field, Bolden was well aware of the limits of chemical rockets.
Seeing that his old friend had calmed down, Musk also breathed a sigh of relief and continued to strike while the iron was hot.
"I swear that the budget saved from the February launch project and the Falcon 10 rocket development plan will all be used on the development of the third-generation Dragon spacecraft. Over the past few years, we have continuously improved the Falcon rocket, and the Dragon spacecraft series has been stagnant for too long. Now it is time to move forward. "
Bolden's expression was still gloomy, but there was a hint of loosening. "This means that we will have to borrow the space elevator of Celestial Trade for the next few decades."
"There are also ports and berths at the terminal space station. When I called Jiang Chen, I tested him. Celestial Trade is very sensitive to the lease of the space elevator track and there is little room for negotiation, but they do not exclude leasing ports and berths at the terminal space station. " At this point, Musk paused slightly. "There are three days left before the United Nations Outer Space Summit. I think … this information can be used as a reference at the summit."
Bolden's eyes lit up slightly.
He immediately stood up from the boss chair and strode to the assistant's desk.
"There will be a meeting in the conference room in an hour. NASA executives must be present. Give the order for me."
"Yes!" The assistant stood up and was about to leave the desk, but Bolden reached out and stopped him by the shoulder.
"Also, contact the Capitol for me!" Bolden said, "I hope the Capitol will pay enough attention, and it is best to send someone over to take a statement. Remember, no interns! "
"Understood." The assistant nodded quickly.
Before leaving, the Mexican assistant secretly glanced at Musk. He didn't understand how this guy calmed the anger of his boss. He originally thought that the two would fight when they met. After all, it was not uncommon for a quarrel to start a fight in the "office culture" of the federal government.
After the assistant left, Bolden issued several orders to his subordinates in a row. After ensuring that everyone was moving, he returned to his desk and sat down. His mouth was a little dry. He was about to drink water, but he remembered that his assistant had already gone to arrange the meeting.
Just as he was about to get up and make himself a cup of tea, a cup of coffee happened to be placed in front of him.
"I need your help at the congressional hearing." Since his old friend didn't have time to talk to him, Musk made a cup of coffee for him.
Bolden raised his eyebrows, glanced at the coffee, and then at Musk.
"I will help you, but the key is still up to you."
Musk smiled faintly.
"I'm relieved to hear that."
Just as NASA began a heated discussion about the upcoming United Nations Summit, Jiang Chen had already finished his private meeting with representatives from Hua, the UA, Russia, and the UK. Although he didn't achieve much, he was fully prepared for the upcoming summit.
After this summit, the world's political landscape would not necessarily have any substantial changes.
But the history of human civilization would definitely be rewritten.
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