Aerospace ground command center.
At this moment, there was a group of people standing in a dense mass.
Among them were Director Li, the head of the State Administration for National Defense, Hou Guang, the director of the Institute of Aerospace Research of the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study, Academician Yuan Huanmin, the chief engineer of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, and Lu Zhou, who just arrived from Beijing …
There was also an old man with a special identity.
This was an important moment for the aerospace industry and even the future of the United States. Almost all of the senior members of the Lunar Orbit Committee were here.
The large floor-to-ceiling screen in front of the control room was filled with expectations and all kinds of complicated emotions. It was like a closed delivery room door.
However, it wasn't a baby that was being conceived.
Instead, it was something called hope.
"It doesn't matter if we fail, we can try again."
Lu Zhou gently shook his head.
"There's no way we'll fail."
It wasn't just the people of the country who were waiting for the results. The world's attention was focused here.
He could even bet that media outlets like BBC and CNN had already written two press releases. One corresponded to the result of success, while the other corresponded to the situation of failure.
Which press release would be published in tomorrow's headlines depended entirely on today's results.
When the old man heard Lu Zhou's confident words, he smiled and nodded.
"It would be great if we can succeed on the first try. I'm just telling you the truth. Aerospace is a century-old industry, and it benefits the future. This marathon about the future, we can afford to win, and we can afford to lose. "
"But speaking of which, is building a city on the Moon … really feasible?"
When Lu Zhou heard this, he immediately understood what the old man was thinking.
Obviously, the celebration program called "Us" had infected the audience, and his emotions had been stirred up.
Lu Zhou thought about this question for a while.
After about half a minute or so, he finally opened his mouth to answer.
"From a practical point of view, it is necessary. From a technical point of view, it is difficult, but not completely impossible."
In fact, the Moon wasn't a perfect candidate for a colony. It had low gravity, large temperature differences, and no atmosphere or magnetic field protection. However, at present, it was the new continent that Earth's civilization had the most hope of reaching first and benefiting from its development.
Its existence was like Tessera Island in the Atlantic Ocean. Although it was small in size and not rich in resources, it became a springboard from Europe to the New World during the Renaissance.
With the breakthrough of controllable fusion technology, Earth had entered the second half of the aerospace era, and Earth had obtained a ticket to a distant world. However, if they wanted to travel to more distant places, Earth's civilization also needed a springboard.
Obviously, the Moon had such potential.
That place was a natural "harbor" as well as an experimental field.
If they could overcome the harsh environment on the Moon, it shouldn't be too much of a problem for them to go further.
As if he had gotten the answer he wanted from Lu Zhou, the old man nodded and put his hands behind his back.
"That's a relief … Speaking of which, when will it start?"
Lu Zhou glanced at the time on his watch and replied.
"It's about to start!"
While they were talking, the hour hand was already on the dot.
The uniformed staff in the command room were like tightly wound gears, and they began to get busy in an orderly manner.
The various units quickly completed the final inspection of the equipment. With all the normal responses coming from the Moon, the commander of the ground command center finally issued an order to "begin loading".
On the Moon more than 300,000 kilometers away, an experimental cargo capsule shaped like a bullet was installed into the launch orbit with the efforts of the lunar scientific research station staff.
The entire cargo capsule weighed six tons, and it was filled with lunar soil rocks collected from the Moon, space crops and seeds harvested by the planting unit, as well as biological research samples such as Dr-111 active substances.
If these goods were brought back to Earth using the original method, the cost per kilogram would be at least 200,000 yuan.
If they could replace the chemical propeller-driven return capsule with a superconducting magnetic rail that cost almost nothing, the cargo could be launched directly from the surface of the Moon to the Earth-Moon transfer orbit. Then, the Magpie Bridge would collect the cargo and pull it back. The cost of each kilogram of cargo could be reduced to less than two thousand yuan.
This might sound a little unbelievable, but it was the truth.
If this project could be realized, dysprosium and terbium, which were worth more than a thousand yuan per kilogram, as well as rare Guis minerals worth more than ten thousand yuan per kilogram — these strategic resources, which were the lifeline of the high-tech industry, could be obtained from the moon.
If this project could be achieved, it would undoubtedly become a milestone in the history of aerospace.
Now, all the preparations were in place.
Everything was on the line!
As the green light on the large floor-to-ceiling screen lit up, everyone standing in the command room clenched their fists involuntarily, waiting for the countdown that would determine their fate to ring.
"Ten."
"Nine."
"Eight."
"…"
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
"Zero."
"Launch!"
The sonorous and powerful voice was like the sound of a starting gun.
After a one-second delay, a slight tremor suddenly sounded 300,000 kilometers away on the Moon's surface. The tremor climbed up the soles of the boots of the astronauts standing next to the launch orbit.
The long-accumulated electric energy was released in an instant, condensing into a solid plasma in the vacuum titanium alloy pipeline. It was wrapped in a terrifying thrust, pushing the silver "bullet" forward.
Instantly, the white light seemed to pierce through space and distort light!
In less than a minute, they had crossed the track that was dozens of kilometers long in an instant!
The cargo capsule suddenly shot into the sky from the surface of the Moon, like a bullet fired from a muzzle. It rushed into the vast starry sky along with the rolling moon dust.
The camera gradually zoomed in, and the camera switched to the Moon Palace.
Under everyone's gaze, the silver-white bullet was like one of the thousands of stars, with a flashing green beacon on top of its head. It quickly rose from one side of the Moon, then drew a long and narrow arc, speeding in the direction of the Earth-Moon transfer orbit …
We're halfway there!
However, everyone in the ground command center didn't dare to take this lightly.
The first half of the launch mission was mainly responsible for the Moon Palace, and the second half of the launch was completely provided by the ground command center.
The battle that belonged to them had just begun!
"The cargo capsule control system is successfully connected, checking instrument operation …"
"Instrument parameters are normal! Connecting to the active navigation system! "
"The navigation system is successfully activated! The cargo capsule speed is 2.77 km/s, approaching the Magpie Bridge 3 cargo spacecraft, a relative distance of 507 kilometers, estimated to make contact in 183 seconds! "
On the radar, two light yellow curves intersected, and two flashing green dots were moving slowly along the two arcs, slowly approaching each other.
As they got closer and closer, the heartbeats of everyone in the command room began to accelerate.
Many young scientific researchers repeatedly took deep breaths, trying to control their chaotic heart rate. Even though some of the older engineers were experienced, their situation wasn't optimistic. Some of them even took out heart pills from their pockets, ready to take one at any time.
It was impossible not to be nervous.
They only had one chance!
Success or failure, it all depended on this!
Just using the cannons to shoot the cargo capsule into the sky wasn't a victory. Only by shooting the cargo capsule into the sky could they be considered a true success. Otherwise, no matter how fast they could return to the cargo capsule, it wouldn't be a true victory.
When the distance between the two flashing green dots decreased from kilometers to meters, almost everyone's heart jumped out of their mouths, and they subconsciously held their breath.
This quarter of a second felt as long as a century.
Without the slightest sound, the two flashing green dots on the screen fused together under countless expectant gazes.
Everything was so natural.
The cargo capsule didn't fall apart.
It was kind of …
Simple?
However, the moment the distance number hit zero, deafening cheers exploded in the command room like a detonator.
"Oh, oh, oh!"
"We did it!"
"Woo … Finally, finally … Motherf * cker, we really did it!"
Applause.
Whistles.
Cheers.
Excitement and joy filled everyone's chest and filled everyone's eyes.
Director Li clenched his fists excitedly.
Academician Yuan Huanmin's eyes were filled with tears. His dry lips trembled slightly, and no one knew what he was saying.
Countless engineers from the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, as well as the researchers from the Institute of Aerospace Research of the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study, shouted excitedly.
Even the old man standing next to Lu Zhou couldn't help but wave his right fist and shout, "Yeah!"
Years of hard work, even decades of hard work, were given real meaning at this moment.
Today, they conquered the Moon!
Bathed in the thunderous cheers, Lu Zhou stood motionless in the center of the command room like a statue. The ecstasy that almost overflowed from his chest made him speechless for a while …
Through the noise, Lu Zhou faintly heard the announcement of victory from the Magpie Bridge No.3 cargo spacecraft through the headphones on his head.
"This is the Magpie Bridge cargo spacecraft, the package has been successfully retrieved.
"We will bring back a gift from the Moon in three days.
"Please remember to welcome us!"
In fact, for him, this announcement of victory seemed to be a bit redundant.
Because the moment the two green dots intersected, a line of light blue dialog box gradually appeared in the pair of black eyes that had suddenly become blurry due to excitement.
The moment Lu Zhou saw the line of text, he didn't know how to describe the emotions in his heart at this moment.
How long has it been?
From the successful entry of the first spacecraft into orbit, to China's first manned moon landing, to the Moon Palace and the Lunar Hadron Collider, to the subsequent uproar …
All of the hardships and sweat were connected at this moment.
He had finally reached the end of this chain of quests that spanned a long period of time.
[Control of Earth and Moon mission chain —]
[Completed!]
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