Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 1097: Difficult to Decide (First Update, Please Subscribe)
10 month 11 day.

At the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, a white rocket stands in front of the towering launch tower. Whether compared with Russia's R7 rocket or Nanyang's Wanhu 5 rocket, the Redstone II rocket without boosters looks very slim.

When the rocket was about to launch, von Braun, standing in the distance, watched the rocket. Although its predecessor was the Nanyang Wanhu 4, as a rocket engineer, he almost redesigned the rocket and redesigned many components including the engine and rocket structure.

In fact, it has long been another type of rocket.

"Doc, we'll be in the launch window in half an hour."

Listening to the voice behind him, von Braun nodded and said.

"They always ask me why we are lagging behind, but what they don't know is that the launch vehicle must be absolutely reliable and ensure the safety of manned flight, otherwise manned space flight will become a disaster."

Looking at the rocket in the distance, von Braun seemed to be explaining something.
"This is just the first step. The next step is to launch a larger spacecraft into space using the Atlas Centaur rocket."

The Atlas-Centaur rocket has more thrust than the Redstone rocket and successfully launched the United States' first geostationary communications satellite into space late last year, but the first five launches of this rocket were not smooth, with only a few successful launches and one partial success. On its first flight, it exploded 45 seconds after takeoff. The fifth launch caused the most serious accident of this type of rocket.

Although engineers were still improving it, manned space flight required that the launch vehicle must be absolutely reliable, so von Braun chose the Redstone rocket, which had a very high reliability and, after improvements, could basically meet the needs of manned space flight.

"But now, all we can do is conduct an unmanned test first."

Then von Braun continued.

"A week ago, although the Nanyang test was unmanned, they also carried a monkey on board, which means that their progress is far ahead of ours. Now, we are racing against time."

"We should be able to overtake them!"

The assistant on the side said.

"After all, the United States' national strength far exceeds that of Southeast Asia."

More than ten minutes later, accompanied by a roar, the Redstone rocket once again soared into the sky. The viewing stands several kilometers away were filled with cheers. The Americans who came to watch the rocket launch once again cheered for the launch of the rocket. It seemed that at this moment, the United States had caught up with other countries.

Like the Nanyang, NASA's launch test was broadcast live on TV and to the world via artificial satellites. On December 12 last year, the United States finally successfully launched its first geostationary communications satellite, but only two have been successfully launched so far. The third one exploded directly, so the United States has not yet built a global satellite communications network, and the Soviet Union... also launched two.

So, as in the past, the broadcast of the US spacecraft launch this time still involved the Asia-Pacific communications satellite in Southeast Asia.

A few hours later, the Associated Press released a telex - NASA's first unmanned spacecraft launch test was a complete success, and the unmanned spacecraft successfully entered orbit. The next step, NASA will send a monkey into space, and the expected launch time is October 10!
That is, 10 days later. This shows how strong the United States is.

Who feels the most pressure about this?

It must be Russia, Korolev, but as far as the world is concerned, no one knows that Russia has conducted five tests. No one knows that the reason why Nanyang made its progress public is actually very simple - to speed up the world. In order to urge the development speed of Russia and the United States.

As time approaches the end of 57, the whole world seems to be attracted by space - who will be the first country to send humans into space?
The space race had just begun with the public launch test in Nanyang. No matter what the participants' mood was, they had to do their best to win the race. In fact, this was exactly why Li Yian decided to make it public.

Speed ​​up humanity!
In fact, the world has been accelerating. Not only in space, but also in another hot land, it is also accelerating and setting off a new upsurge in agricultural production.

In short, the whole world is developing rapidly.

“This is for all mankind!”

After learning that the second test by the United States was successful, Li Yian's mouth curled up slightly and he once again uttered his "mantra".

What is "for all mankind"? It is clearly to let the United States and Russia run together on the track he has drawn. Everything is within his expectations. The progress of Nanyang is forcing them to develop and increase their investment in the aerospace industry.

In fact, in terms of progress in manned space flight, Nanyang is ahead of the United States and Russia.

This is not only due to the excellent design of the Wanhu-5 rocket, but also to some technical details, such as the heat shield of the spacecraft. The heat shield technology used by the United States and the Soviet Union is nothing special. It is just to use some metal alloys with very high melting points and very high specific heat capacity to coat the outside of the spacecraft. If one layer is not enough, apply several layers. It is simple and crude, and it initially solves the problem, but the disadvantage is that it is very large and the temperature limit is not enough.

Nanyang uses the "ablation insulation" technology, which was proposed by the United States and the Soviet Union when they competed for manned moon landing. Based on hardness, a new concept of "ablation" was proposed. Simply put, when this ablation material evaporates, it absorbs and emits a lot of heat. Speaking of which, this technology is also simple and crude - it is cork, the kind used to make red bottle stoppers.

Lightweight, low thermal conductivity cork has been used in the aerospace industry since the Apollo 11 mission, both as thermal protection for rocket bodies and as thermal insulation for spacecraft.

Insulation technology is one aspect, and in terms of the shape of the spacecraft, Nanyang is also far ahead. The first generation of the Soviet Vostok spacecraft is like a ball. It is unstable and easy to rotate. Gagarin suffered from this, so Li Yian gave a triangular spacecraft shape. In short, relying on these seemingly insignificant technical tips, Nanyang has been far ahead of the United States in the progress of manned space flight, and to a certain extent, ahead of the Soviet Union.

"Sir, according to our analysis, the Soviets are likely to launch before November 11th."

Eugene reminded at the right time.

"Well, this possibility is very high. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the success of the October Revolution. If they have the chance, they will definitely do it. There is no better gift than sending astronauts into space!"

Li Yian had learned a lot about the tribute project when he was in another world. In the Eastern European countries, they always give special meaning to everything and link it with major programs. This is a way to enhance the sense of pride. Of course, this is also what the presiding officials enjoy doing - after all, this will allow them to collect additional rewards.

Therefore, the tribute project has never stopped, especially for major events like this one.

"As long as there is a slight possibility, they will launch before November 11," thinking of this, Li Yian took slow steps, smoking a cigar from time to time, and then he asked.

"What about us?"

"Our rocket is undergoing final testing. As it stands, we can launch before this day. The only problem is..."

Looking at His Excellency, Eugene raised a difficult question.

"Our astronauts have completed their training, but the question now is, we have a total of six astronauts, who should we send into space?"

Then Eugene turned his eyes to you and said, "Okay, now I'm throwing the question to you. In fact, this question doesn't seem to be that complicated. Often you just need to choose the best one."

"Who is the best among them?"

Li Yian asked.

“There is basically no difference.”

They are all elites selected from thousands of miles away, so what is the difference?

Eugene's answer made Li Yian frown. He took a puff of his cigar silently, and suddenly the reason why Gagarin was selected emerged in his mind - first of all, Gagarin was good enough, but the reason why he was chosen among several astronauts was because he was a pure Russian. At that time, Khrushchev instructed that the first astronaut must be a pure Russian, so even the Ukrainian astronaut Titov, who had good conditions, could only be a reserve astronaut. Therefore, Gagarin won a little bit, and at the same time his background was very correct - he was born in a collective farm, a peasant, and he graduated from a vocational school and became a trained metallurgical worker. Because of his love for flying, he entered the aviation school.

A typical Soviet-style male protagonist.

Li Yian felt it would be unacceptable if he was not chosen as an astronaut.

As if remembering something, Li Yian walked to the desk and took out a file from the drawer. In it was the information of six astronauts. After unfolding their files one by one, their ages ranged from 22 to 33 years old. According to the selection principle at the time, they were selected from pilots under the age of 35.

Their backgrounds were different. Except for one German, the other five astronauts all immigrated to Southeast Asia from Tangshan. They had different ancestral homes and backgrounds.

Lin Polu, 33 years old, was born in Liaoning Province. He studied at Southwest Associated University. He was the oldest, but he was a member of the fifth search team. His wife was of German descent, and his father was a former officer of the Northeast Army who died in the War of Resistance against Japan.

This is one of ours!
Almost subconsciously, Li Yian was more inclined towards him.

Xu Yunxiang, 25 years old, is from Jiangxi Province. His father was a businessman who immigrated to Nanyang in . He went to secondary school in Kuching and later entered the Air Force School. A typical experience of a Nanyang youth - Tangshan primary school, Nanyang secondary school or university.

Gao Binghan, 22 years old, was born in Shandong Province. He was an exiled student. After graduating from King's School, he entered the Air Force School.

Hans, 24 years old, is of German descent. His father is a German engineer. He graduated from Chang'an German Middle School and later entered the Air Force School.

Liu Langxia, 27 years old, is from Sichuan Province. He immigrated to Southeast Asia with his parents. His father is a teacher and his mother is a housewife...

Wang Baoxian, 23 years old, is from Anhui Province. He immigrated to Southeast Asia with his parents. His father first worked on a farm and then switched to business...

Looking at their information, Li Yian found it difficult to make a choice for a moment.

Who should be chosen between them?

(End of this chapter)