The cabin door was closed.
He sat down in the pilot's seat.
Nie Yun connected the life support system and the safety belt to his spacesuit. He took a deep breath and slowly moved his body's center of gravity to the seat behind him.
The electronic clock on the dial was ticking quietly, but the jumping numbers seemed to be audible.
"It's about to start."
"Yeah."
Nie Yun gave Nie Yan, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat, a fist bump. He then looked back at the control panel. When he heard the "all units ready" sound in his headset, he raised his right hand and opened the safety lock on the fusion device. He then turned the start button.
The second the button turned, a huge amount of energy surged out of the fusion nuclear core. The entire sky shuttle was like a giant beast that had its heart ignited, waking up from its slumber.
Liu Zhengwen, who was sitting in the passenger seat, felt the vibration of the soles of his feet. He gulped and spoke nervously.
"Are we going to ignite?"
The communication channel wasn't turned on, so no one heard his voice.
Nie Yun looked at the rising energy on the dial and gently tapped the side of his helmet. He then spoke in a clear voice, "This is Skyglow.
The fusion device has successfully ignited. All preparations are in place, we can take off at any time! Requesting approval! "
Soon after, he heard the ground command center's response.
"Request approved, ignition countdown will begin in one minute."
"Roger that."
Nie Yun held the joystick tightly and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and pushed the start button with his thumb.
The moment he reopened his eyes, that clear and steady countdown rang out in his ears at the same time …
“5”
“4”
“3”
“2”
“1”
“0”
"Ignition!"
Last time, Lu Zhou gave Hou Guang the ignition countdown for Skyglow's first flight. This time, Hou Guang gave Lu Zhou the ignition countdown.
As soon as he finished speaking, the five huge nozzles connected to the rear of the sky shuttle began to emit dazzling blue light, pushing the huge sky shuttle forward slowly.
The moment the blue light bloomed, whether it was the ground crew standing near the runway, the Army soldiers standing guard with guns, or the engineers standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows in the command tower, all of their attention was captured by it.
No matter how many times they saw this shocking scene, they would never get tired of it.
Director Li, who was standing next to Lu Zhou, looked up at this scene on the big screen.
After a long time, he suddenly spoke in a somewhat emotional tone.
"I more or less understand why you want to go up."
Hearing this, Lu Zhou smiled and didn't answer.
"Shall we go up together when we have the chance?"
Director Li said without hesitation.
"Don't even think about it!"
While the two of them were talking, the sky shuttle on the runway was getting faster and faster.
In the end, the blue arc of light slowly lifted the silver spaceship from the end of the runway and flew towards the distant skyline. In the pitch-black night sky, a flame that looked like an aurora opened up.
Watching the flight carrying hope disappear at the end of the night, the ground crew on the ground burst into enthusiastic cheers. The aerospace experts standing in the command tower looked at the horizon. Many people had tears in their eyes.
Even though the journey to the Moon had just begun, this difficult first step had been taken. Regardless of whether they succeeded or failed, this moment would be remembered in history.
As for whether they could successfully leave their footprints on the Moon and successfully return to the Moon …
That would depend on the luck of the astronauts …
"Skyglow, this is the ground command center, report your situation."
After a brief static sound, the co-pilot's voice came from the other end of the phone.
"This is Skyglow, current altitude 5 kilometers, speed 1,000 kilometers per hour, acceleration 1.25G, temperature sensor feedback is good, everything is normal!"
"Good, please stay in touch, the ground command center will continue to provide navigation for you."
"Roger that."
Skyglow was nowhere to be seen in the night sky.
Director Li, who was standing next to Lu Zhou, suddenly asked as the ground crew began to clean up the runway and equipment on the open space of the launch site.
Director Li, who was standing next to Lu Zhou, suddenly asked, "If it takes two hours to reach low-Earth orbit, how long will it take to reach the Moon?"
Even though the estimated arrival time was written on the launch plan, the launch plan was sent directly to the China National Space Administration. The State Administration for National Defense wasn't responsible for the specific launch project. Even though Star Sky Technology sent a copy to the State Administration for National Defense, Director Li was in a hurry to leave Jinling, so he didn't get the plan.
Lu Zhou looked at the green dot on the radar and smiled.
"Fifty-six hours is probably enough."
"Only 56 hours?" Director Li looked at Lu Zhou in surprise. He said, "If I remember correctly, the Americans' Saturn V took more than 70 hours, right?"
"If we increase the distance, we can fly even faster." Lu Zhou paused for a second and said, "The launch is over, I'm going to take a nap. You should go rest too. The plane is already in the sky, I can't just fly by myself. "
Lu Zhou didn't wait for Director Li to answer. He took off his headset and spoke to Hou Guang in a serious tone.
"I'm counting on you."
Hou Guang took the headset from Lu Zhou and nodded solemnly.
"Understood."
…
Above the blue sky.
Skyglow, which had reached an altitude of 20 kilometers, smoothly switched its launch mode under the control of a skilled pilot. The engine began to work against gravity, and the spacecraft flew toward outer space in a tangent direction.
Liu Zhengwen felt his center of gravity move from his butt to his back. He took a deep breath and tapped the side of his helmet with his index finger. He switched to the crew channel.
"… We're out of the atmosphere?"
After a while, Nie Yan's voice came from the communication channel.
"It's still early, if you're nervous, you can close your eyes and take a nap."
"I just woke up a few hours ago, I can't sleep."
Who the hell can sleep in an environment like this!
Nie Yan smiled and said, "Be brave, you're a man. You're also a researcher, but Professor Lu wasn't like you when he snuck up here."
Most young scholars in China regarded Lu Zhou as a role model and idol.
Liu Zhengwen remembered that Lu Zhou had been on this thing before, so he calmed down a bit.
"Professor Lu … What was he like when he came up?"
Nie Yun, who had switched Skyglow to automatic flight mode, smiled and spoke.
"Him? He's nutty. Professional astronauts like us are a bit nervous, but he didn't panic at all. He even took a selfie of Earth. "
Liu Zhengwen: "…"
No wonder he's God Lu.
He wanted to go on Weibo and say "God Lu is nutty", but he didn't know what else to say.
Nie Yun looked at Liu Zhengwen and thought that Liu Zhengwen hadn't recovered yet. He paused for a second and spoke in an encouraging tone.
"Actually, you should relax and think on the bright side. When we come back from the Moon, we'll be heroes. You'll be proud of that for the rest of your life."
Liu Zhengwen looked up and asked, "What if we don't come back?"
Nie Yun smiled.
"Then we'll be heroes."
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