Mars orbit.
The cockpit was dead silent.
Liu Biao quietly waited for the result on the other end of the communication channel. He took a deep breath and suddenly spoke.
"Captain."
Xu Zhenghong: "What?"
Liu Biao: "Is this appropriate?"
"What's inappropriate for countries to communicate with each other? If they're on the same side, it doesn't mean they won't set conditions for rescue. "Xu Zhenghong looked at his younger comrade and smiled. He then looked at the dust-covered planet and said," Not to mention, even if we're doing this for humanitarian reasons, we can't come here for nothing. "
Liu Biao asked, "What if they don't find what we're looking for?"
Xu Zhenghong went silent for a while.
"It would be a loss for us."
However, for the sake of maximizing benefits, they would still let them board the spacecraft.
This was what Professor Lu told him …
…
On the surface of Mars.
The alloy door on the outside of the life support system slowly opened, and a red painted rover drove out of it, heading toward the rolling sand.
Johnson looked at the approaching green dot on the radar, and he had a complicated expression on his face.
Obviously, NASA wouldn't issue such a ridiculous mission. The Chinese man's "this is your request" wasn't even an excuse to comfort himself.
But if he wanted to go home, he had no choice …
Johnson quickly arrived at his destination with the help of the on-board radar.
Johnson parked the rover not far from the center of the explosion. He put on his spacesuit and took out a toolbox from the trunk of the rover. He then walked toward the center of the BFS spacecraft crash site.
"Sh * t … It looks like this."
Johnson looked at the horrifying scene and followed the mission log. He sampled the materials of the various parts of the BFS spacecraft and stored them in a special sample box.
He soon approached the core area, and there were more and more wreckage.
Johnson carefully stepped over the steel fragments and took out the arc cutter from the toolbox. He pressed a button on the deformed metal shell and quickly cut a circular hole in the shell that allowed people to enter.
After doing all this, Johnson let out a sigh of relief and threw the cutting gun into the toolbox.
"Phew … it's time to work."
He grabbed the metal bars in the BFS cabin and slid over the metal debris into the cabin.
"The black box … Let me think. I think it's under the driver's seat. Hmm, that should be it … "
Johnson turned on the flashlight in front of his chest and wiped the dust off his spacesuit mask. He followed the route in his memory and began to feel his way toward the cockpit.
In fact, just as Lu Zhou had guessed, there was indeed something similar to a black box on the BFS spacecraft. It recorded a series of calculations from the BFS spacecraft's launch to orbit, as well as communication records with NASA.
If the BFS spacecraft encountered an accident and crashed to the surface of Mars, retrieving the black box was one of the colonists' jobs.
However, this part of the job did not include handing over the black box to the Chinese …
Johnson found the green suitcase under the broken driver's seat. He hesitated for a moment and shook his head. He then turned around and walked out of the cabin …
Inside the life support system thirty kilometers away.
Jones and Travis were inside the experiment cabin. They were anxiously waiting for Captain Johnson's news.
They had looked out the porthole countless times. Even though there was nothing outside, Travis couldn't help but stretch his neck to look outside.
Suddenly, the experiment cabin door opened. Johnson, who was wearing a spacesuit and covered in sand, walked in with a green suitcase and a smaller suitcase.
Travis smiled and walked up to Johnson. However, Johnson didn't even look at him. He walked straight to the console, connected the data cable on the spacesuit to the chassis next to him, and pressed the button to connect the communication device.
"I've found what you guys are looking for."
The noise of static electricity went on for a while.
A reply quickly came through the communication channel.
"Congratulations, you have received your tickets home. Please enter the return cabin and prepare for ignition. We will arrive in New Virginia in five minutes."
"Roger that."
Johnson unplugged the data cable and looked at his two teammates standing behind him. He let out a sigh of relief as if a heavy burden had been lifted off his shoulders.
"… Let's go home."
…
The New Virginia escape capsule was located in the center of the life support system, directly above the methane generator.
When the situation on the Martian surface deteriorated beyond control, the colonists only needed to enter the return capsule and activate the escape procedure. The liquid oxygen and methane in the life support system would be injected into the engine at the base of the return capsule, allowing the return capsule to return to the BFS spacecraft in orbit.
Of course, the BFS spacecraft had been destroyed by NASA.
Even though there was no direct evidence that NASA did this, Johnson couldn't think of a better reason.
He would rather believe that NASA gave up on them.
That way, the guilt in his heart would lessen a little …
Dragging a thick pillar of smoke and flames behind it, the hemispherical silver-white return capsule separated from the life support system and rushed through the tumbling dust.
At this moment, the failed outer planet colonization campaign, which lasted less than three months, finally ended with the evacuation of the colonists.
Of course, although they failed, the experiences and lessons they learned from their failures were enough to pave the way for their successors and help them go even further …
Heading into the silent starry sky, the return capsule that rose into orbit gradually lost power and merged into the orbit around Mars. After floating for half an hour, it finally landed in the arms of Starlight.
Zooming out the lens, looking from afar, the two spacecraft, one big and one small, were slowly approaching under the sunlight. They were like two shining dots of light that were intersecting.
"New Virginia has successfully entered orbit … Our oxygen may not last long, we need help."
"This is Starlight, we have received your request, please wait patiently for rescue."
The cabin door slowly opened, and a thick mechanical arm reached out from the cabin, slowly clamping onto the shell of the return capsule. At the moment of contact, the cabin wall shook violently for a while, but it quickly stabilized, and Starlight slowly dragged it out of the cargo hold.
This design was originally used to recycle space garbage and satellites that had reached the end of their service life but could not crash normally. However, it was also technically feasible to recycle escape capsules.
Thousands of kilometers away in Jin Ling City, surrounded by media reporters, the Lunar Orbit Committee held a press conference as scheduled to announce the latest progress of the rescue operation.
When the reporters at the scene heard the news that the BFS spacecraft had fallen from Mars orbit, they went into an uproar. Johnson's wife, who came to China from North America, covered her nose and cried.
However, in just a few hours, everything had taken a turn for the better.
When the return capsule successfully entered orbit, Starlight arrived at the target airspace, and the spacecraft recovery operation began, the reporters and people from all walks of life, as well as the US embassy staff and the families of the victims, held their breaths and waited nervously for the final result.
In the end, when the news of the successful rescue crossed tens of millions of kilometers and five minutes of delay, it reached the Jinling ground command center. The news that "the rescue work was a complete success" and "all three astronauts survived" was also immediately announced on the big screen at the press conference.
When the exciting line of words appeared in front of everyone's eyes, all of their worries and prayers were answered …
At the press conference.
In an instant.
It was filled with thunderous applause!
"God … Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much! Sorry, I don't know how to express myself, I lost control of my emotions, sob sob sob … "
The woman held the chief designer Lu Zhou's hand tightly and spoke words of gratitude. Her legs slowly lost support. Fortunately, the staff next to her quickly grabbed her, preventing her from falling to the ground.
Lu Zhou gave her a comforting look. He then told the staff to take her to the side to rest.
She didn't know if her husband was dead or alive.
She must have suffered a lot over the past month.
Now that the stone in her heart was finally lifted, she could finally sleep peacefully.
Chen Yunhai, the director of the Lunar Orbit Committee organization department and the deputy director of the China National Space Administration, stood in front of the cameras. He solemnly announced the success of the rescue operation and the return schedule of Starlight.
The embassy staff stood on the side and took off his glasses. He wiped the sand from the corners of his eyes with his thumb and index finger. After that, he and the people next to him applauded for this moment.
Even though they lost this round, there was no doubt about that.
But …
He couldn't help but applaud for this moment …
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