In fact, Starlight arrived 79 hours earlier than Lu Zhou expected.
After 41 days and 2 hours of flight, the fiery red planet slowly rose from the porthole of Starlight's cockpit.
Liu Biao narrowed his eyes and looked out of the porthole, watching the bright sunlight slowly rising from the edge of the fiery red outline, and watching the rolling waves of sand rolling like a sea of fire. Liu Biao, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat, clicked his tongue.
"This is a mess … But the scenery is quite beautiful."
"Yeah." Xu Zhenghong nodded and didn't say much. He placed his hand on his helmet and said, "This is Starlight, we have entered the Mars gravitational system and successfully entered orbit A-11."
They quietly waited for around five minutes.
The sound of an unstable communication came from Earth, which was tens of millions of kilometers away.
"This is the ground command center. Congratulations on successfully completing the mission … Please activate the active braking program and prepare to approach Mars. The on-board computer will complete the orbit change navigation. Good luck. "
"Roger that!"
It was obviously impossible to command the spacecraft to change orbit through real-time communication at a distance of tens of millions of kilometers.
The orbit change plan had already been written into the pre-set program. The pilot would complete the orbit change with the help of the on-board computer.
Of course, even though it sounded complicated, it wasn't that troublesome.
Starlight had a high degree of automation. Unless there were special circumstances, the pilot only needed to look at the speed and distance dials to make sure the spacecraft didn't deviate from the orbit.
Liu Biao: "Do we just go down? Or wait for them to come up? "
Xu Zhenghong: "The New Virginia life support system has a return capsule. They will use the return capsule to return to the BFS spacecraft in Mars orbit. We will retrieve the target, then return to Mars."
He also had to drop the "detector".
Of course, this was a top-secret mission, which was personally given to him by the chief designer of the Lunar Orbit Committee, Lu Zhou. He had to keep this mission to himself. Even though Liu Biao was his assistant, he couldn't reveal any information …
Liu Biao: "Okay … What if they don't come back?"
Xu Zhenghong smirked and said, "Then we'll mourn for them for half a minute … Remember to take photos, don't let the Americans blame us."
"No problem, activate the law enforcement recorder!"
Liu Biao smiled and reached out to press the button on the console.
"What's the rush? It's still early."
Xu Zhenghong scolded with a smile.
But at this moment, the expression on his face suddenly froze.
Looking at the silver-white dot outside the porthole, Xu Zhenghong's pupils contracted slightly, and he pressed his hand on the helmet.
"This is Starlight … the spaceship of the Americans. There seems to be a problem."
Another five minutes of waiting.
The ground command center's voice came from the communication channel.
"What's happening?"
Xu Zhenghong narrowed his eyes and stared at the silvery-white dot in the distance.
He didn't know if it was his imagination, but he felt that something was wrong.
Liu Biao noticed the direction he was looking at, so he turned on the laser radar and aimed it at the airspace where the target aircraft was located.
Although this thing was used to measure the relative distance between meteorites, it could also be used on spacecraft.
Xu Zhenghong took a deep breath and said loudly as he looked at the distance on the screen in units of kilometers per second.
"The BFS spacecraft is falling … I repeat … The BFS spacecraft is falling!"
…
It had been more than a month since the distress signal was sent.
More accurately, it had been 41 days and 2 hours.
The crops in the planting area had completely withered. There wasn't enough light or energy, so it was just a burden.
In order to save energy, two weeks ago, they limited their activity to less than 10 square meters of the experimental area and cut off the power to the other functional areas. The reason why they chose to wait for rescue here was because there was the only control terminal that could receive the BFS spacecraft's signal, obtain weather information, and use it as a signal repeater to contact Earth.
However, even then, they were running out of energy.
They would die from lack of oxygen in 42 hours …
At this time, a weak and trembling female voice broke the silence in the experiment cabin.
"Are they coming back to save us?" Jones helplessly looked at the sandstorm outside the porthole. She had a look of despair in her eyes.
It was impossible for the sandstorm to stop.
Judging from the current scale, this sandstorm would last for at least six months.
Johnson, who was leaning against the porthole, held a photo tightly in his hand. He spoke in a weak voice.
He spoke in a weak voice, "They will."
Although at this moment, on that handsome face that was always full of optimism, there was no longer any optimistic expression.
"Not necessarily." Travis was hiding in the corner. He snorted and said, "Maybe they'll think we're better off dead."
Jones's blue eyes widened, and she asked in disbelief, "Why?"
Travis: "Think about it, if we die, we'll be heroes. All it takes is a flag and a funeral to get rid of us. But if we're still alive, they'll have to spend a lot of money to build a rocket and bring us more supplies … Either way, it's a huge loss — "
"Enough!"
Johnson, who had a gloomy expression on his face, suddenly roared.
The cabin was eerily silent for a moment.
Travis was stunned by his captain's aura for two to three seconds, but he soon frowned and stood up with an unfriendly tone.
"Hey, what's wrong with what I said?"
Johnson also stood up from the floor, and he looked at Travis with a gloomy expression.
"I just want you to shut your mouth. If you don't consume two milliliters of oxygen, we might be able to live for a few more seconds."
"Oh, what's the point? We're all going to die anyway. Oh, I get it, you want to fight me? Come on then. I've been sick of your face for a long time. "Travis rubbed his knuckles and got into a boxing stance.
Seeing that the two were about to fight, Jones used all of his strength to stand up and try to stop the two.
"Enough! You guys calm down! "
Suddenly, a muffled sound came from outside the life support system.
The two people who were about to start a fight suddenly froze and looked outside the porthole.
Even though the smoke was billowing, they could still clearly see the fireball. At the same time, the control terminal not far away, the green dot that represented the spacecraft's communication signal flashed before turning red.
The standby screen opened, and a line of text flashed in the upper right corner.
[Lost connection]
The second Johnson saw this line of text, he gulped, and a look of horror appeared on his face.
"Sh * t, our spacecraft!"
Travis murmured to himself as well.
"Jesus …"
The silence lasted for a long time.
Until the flashing flame exhausted the liquid oxygen in the engine and was finally engulfed by the rolling dust, falling to an unknown place …
Jones stared at the dust outside the porthole and spoke with a trembling voice.
"Are we going to die?"
No one answered her.
The BFS spacecraft had more than enough fuel to float in orbit for 20 years, but it just had to "malfunction" …
Johnson raised his trembling finger and drew a cross in front of his chest.
God bless.
Even though he knew that this was Ares' territory, even God couldn't do anything about it …
However, right at this moment, a heavenly voice rang out.
At first, he thought it was an electric noise, so he didn't care.
Then, the noise gradually became clearer …
Johnson looked at the [Connection Request] on the screen and the green dot on the terminal. It was like he was grasping at straws. He rushed to the control terminal and pressed the communication button.
Whether it was God or aliens …
He just hoped that he wasn't hallucinating.
It turned out that he wasn't hallucinating.
The moment the communication was connected, a clear and smooth voice flowed into his ears like a sweet spring …
"This is Colonel Xu Zhenghong of the Chinese People's Liberation Army astronaut team. My friends on Mars, how are you?"
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