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Chapter 1599 SEA's Moon Race (rd update, please subscribe)
Many people look up at the sky there every day.

Only a very small number of people have the opportunity to go into space, the ratio is even one in a billion.

Although Wang Baoxian never went to space again after returning safely to Earth from space, he got a new position a few years ago - director of the astronaut office.

Responsible for arranging, coordinating, and controlling astronauts' activities, supervising astronaut training, listening to astronauts' opinions on spacecraft and helping to improve them, as well as the planning, organization, and astronaut selection process for each mission.

He has not flown a mission in the past few years, but he is in charge of astronaut selection, choosing the astronauts for each space mission.

As soon as he walked out of the elevator, the assistant came over and reported to Wang Baoxian.

"Director, Chief Eugene is waiting for you in his office."

Although Eugene is the deputy director, as one of the founders of Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, he has a very great influence in Wanhu Cape.

He came here now, it must be something important.

"Lunar 6!"

As soon as the two men met, Eugene stated his request.

"The candidates for Luna 5 have been decided. The launch of Luna 6 is already on schedule, so you need to come up with a list of flight team members as soon as possible."

Listening to the deputy director's request, Wang Baoxian thought for a moment, then took out a document from the drawer and said:

"I have already arranged the candidates."

As he spoke, he handed over the document and said:
“They should be the most suitable candidates.”

"As long as the group you choose is the best."

While praising him, Eugene flipped open the document. After seeing the contents of the document clearly, his eyes suddenly opened and he said:

"Oh my God, what do you mean?"

The reason why he was so surprised was that he saw Wang Baoxian's name on the group list.

"Myself!"

Wang Baoxian looked at Eugene and said.

"This is a certificate from the medical team. They can prove that my physical condition fully meets the standards of an astronaut, and that I performed very well in the lunar landing team training.

So I think I am the best person to do this, and if it is a job-related issue, I can resign from the position of Chief of the Astronaut Office now."

"You know, this was never a question of position."

Eugene looked at Wang Baoxian and said.

"The reason why you are not allowed to go into space is because—"

"Because of safety issues?"

Wang Baoxian asked back.

"Because I'm the first human astronaut, you have to consider my safety and not let me go into space. Is that right?"

Eugene nodded and said.

“You know every time you launch a rocket you’re taking a risk.

We must consider your safety, after all, you are a hero to all mankind."

"Gagarin!"

Wang Baoxian mentioned this name.

"He is also a hero of mankind, he was the first astronaut of the Soviet Union, but he landed on the moon.

He could go to the moon, and so can I."

Then Wang Baoxian said in an extremely stubborn tone.

"And I am the director of the Astronaut Office. I decide who can go to space. This is my responsibility. If you think I am incompetent and unable to perform this job, you can fire me."

Fired?

This is obviously impossible.

As we all know, Wang Baoxian is a hero to all mankind. If he is fired, SpaceX will become the target of worldwide criticism.

"But if something happens to him, we will also be blamed by the whole world."

In Yuan's office, Eugene looked at the director and said.

"Then the whole world will blame us for not protecting this hero."

Smoking silently and looking at the report in front of him, Yuan Jia thought for a moment and said.

"But he's made his decision, hasn't he? And as director of the Astronaut Office, it's within his area of ​​responsibility.

Well, since he has made up his mind, then - let him go on the Luna 6 mission."

At this very critical moment, the Yuan family was not willing to waste their energy on other things. After all, the Moon 4 would be launched soon.

Then there was Luna 5.

"If everything goes well, Chandrayaan-5 will be launched in the second half of the year, and by then we will send our people to the moon and plant our flag on the moon."

Yuan Jialiu took out a document from the drawer and said:

“Last year the Soviets were first to land on the moon, and a month later the Americans landed on the moon.

Then they started a new race - to build a space station on the moon and eventually establish a permanent human base on the moon."

As the vice president of Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, he was well aware of the new competition between the United States and the Soviet Union. He said:
"We want to join the race, don't we?"

Yuan Jialiu nodded and said.

"To some extent, we will not compete with them to see who will be the first to build a lunar space station. The first place does not mean so much to us."

"This is because we don't need to prove ourselves to be the best by being first like the United States and the Soviet Union did."

Eugene said with deep conviction.

"Because our positioning is different. Compared with the empty title of No. 1, what we need is to participate in it and gain corresponding benefits from it. Achieving breakthroughs in technology and application is the most important thing for us."

"That being said, we must take a long-term view. For example, we must reduce the cost of launching a space station as much as possible."

Yuan Jialiu took out the report and said:
"So I think we should have considered from the beginning how to use our lunar module!"

"Lunar module?"

"Yes, my idea is this, we can turn the lunar module into a part of the lunar space station, and some of its materials can be used to build the space station.

For example, we can increase its solar panel area so that it can provide power for our next lunar landing and scientific experiments."

Yuan Jialiu pointed to the blueprint of the lunar module and talked about his idea. His idea was very simple, which was to turn the lunar module that needed to be abandoned on the moon into a part of the permanent lunar space station.

The lunar module consists of two parts, the ascent stage and the support stage (including the descent stage). As the name suggests, the ascent stage is used to transport people to the lunar orbit, while the support frame is abandoned on the lunar surface.

“… In this way, we can have an independent module that can be connected to another lunar module in the future through a connecting pipe.

And eventually it will be integrated with the lunar space station into one whole.”

Listening to Yuan Jialiu's idea, Eugene thought for a moment and said:
"In the abandoned lander, there are fuel tanks and electronic equipment. These things take up a lot of space, and there is also the issue of cabin sealing. It does not seem to be suitable as a living cabin."

"It is indeed not suitable as a living cabin, but there is absolutely no problem as an equipment cabin. As for the sealing problem, we can improve it during the design to ensure its sealing.

His fuel tank can be designed to be disposable and can be removed directly after arriving on the moon. As for electronic equipment, many of his electronic equipment should be able to be used on the lunar space station.

Not only will it save a lot of money, but it will also save the weight of the launch. I have calculated that at this rate, we can probably have a primary space station by the time we launch to the Moon 8.

During this period, we also need to launch the main body of the space station through an unmanned launch."

After thinking for a moment, he added:

"My idea is that we treat each abandoned cabin as part of the space station, and then use a building block-like method to assemble them one component at a time.

In this way, in the end we will have a large lunar space station of several hundred cubic meters.

In terms of weight, we save the cost of two launches, which will not only significantly reduce the cost of building a lunar space station.

Moreover, it will greatly advance the speed of building the space station if everything goes well."

Yuan Jialiu paused for a moment, then spoke in a voice that only the two of them could hear.

"By then, we may even be the first to build a lunar space station, ahead of the Americans and the Soviets in achieving this goal."

Before the Americans and Soviets catch up, build a permanent space station on the moon.

It has to be said that this is a very grand dream. Just like an ant moving house, it moves a little at a time, and finally connects the four lunar modules together like assembling building blocks to form a whole.

Add to that a core warehouse, and the entire space station is completed.

Of course, this space station looks a bit primitive, but as a space station with four independent connected compartments, its work efficiency is definitely far greater than the first generation space stations of the Soviet Union and the United States.

“That requires a solution to a problem.”

Eugene thought for a moment and added:
"The sealing and rapid connection of the lunar module require a large amount of materials. Where do these materials come from?"

"Lunar Rover!"

Yuan Jialiu pointed to a location next to the lunar module and said.

"We don't need to send a lunar rover on every launch. Our lunar rover should not use silver-zinc batteries. Although this battery has a large capacity and is light in weight, it cannot be recharged. This means that we have to send a lunar rover on every launch, and the cost of each lunar rover is extremely staggering.

From a cost perspective, this is not cost-effective. Since we have decided to leave the lunar module on the moon as part of the space station and add solar panels, we can use solar power to charge the lunar rover. Its battery does not need to be too large, as long as it can meet the range of about 30 kilometers. It is enough. "

The difference between the first moon landing plans of the United States and the Soviet Union was that their moon landing plans would carry a lunar rover.

With the lunar rover, astronauts can explore larger areas on the moon, not just hop a few steps on the moon.

Looking at the plan proposed by Yuan Jialiu, Eugene, a space engineer, felt that his plan was very feasible, including the realistic transformation of the lunar module.

After thinking for a while, Eugene said:

"This is a very good idea, but you should know that this will most likely delay our moon landing plan. After all, the lunar module needs to be further modified."

In response to Eugene's reminder, Yuan Jialiu said:
"I said we don't care about time. We are already behind, so it is completely acceptable to fall behind for a few more months. Moreover... our current lag is for a longer-term purpose."

Then, Yuan Jialiu said in an expectant tone:

"If this plan can be implemented, we are likely to be the final winner of the moon race."

"Indeed, they have to carry out 2-3 unmanned launches to build a space station. For these preliminary work, we only need one unmanned launch to transport enough materials to the moon."

Eugene nodded and said:
“Then we only have one question now, which is where did the spacecraft land?
After all, the location we land on must be suitable for building a permanent space station. In this case, its geological requirements become very important."

“It’s not just the geological requirements.”

Yuan Jialiu shook his head and said:

"The most important thing is that there must be water there, or there must be the possibility of water. Only in this way can we build a space station there. After all, we can't send water from the earth to the moon."

(End of this chapter)