Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 1652 Moscow is also going to roll up (first update, please subscribe)
This is the best New Year gift!

At the arrival of the new year, the Luna 5's moon landing was successful. Although there were some twists and turns, it was still a success.

When Luna 5 completed its moon landing mission and began its return journey, people on Earth had already begun celebrating.

In the space industry, it doesn’t matter who is first. What matters is whether you accept the challenge and achieve it!

Although SEA's moon landing was one year later than Russia and the United States, it did not matter. What mattered was that they successfully achieved the moon landing.

There is no doubt that Gao Binghan has become a hero, just like Gagarin of the Soviet Union and Armstrong of the United States.

At the beginning of the new year, newspapers around the world were filled with news about the Luna 5 and the mission team, and Gao Binghan's name and photo were on the front page.

Especially in Asia, because he was the first Asian to land on the moon.

Throughout East Asia, many people name their children Binghan.

In short, when the new year comes, human beings get the best New Year gift.

Facing this New Year's gift, countries around the world had different reactions. Most of them expressed celebration, including many Eastern countries including TASS. Of course, there were also some countries, such as Pyongyang, which did not report it at all. At most, they published an article in their internal publications titled "The Soviet Union supports the capitalists: it publicizes the launch of SEA's "Luna 5"."

Beyond that, people knew nothing about the raging space race.

But their ignorance did not prevent the continuation of the space race. In fact, a new race had already begun after Luna 5 chose Sverdrup-Hansen Crater as its landing site.

"They have issued us a new challenge!"

In the Kremlin, facing Brezhnev, Korolev said:
"Although we have achieved the achievement of being the first to land on the moon, we can see from the limited information we have that the next step for SEA will be to establish a permanent base on the moon, which is why they chose the crater and the South Pole."

Korolev then explained to Brezhnev why they chose Antarctica, from the speculation about water ice in the eternal night zone to the crater itself.

"…In addition to the possible existence of water ice, they also found lava tubes in the crater. Compared with the exposed base on the surface, building a base in a lava tube has greater advantages. Its environment is relatively constant temperature and low energy consumption. Lava tubes and caves are natural barriers. The solar radiation on the lunar surface will seriously threaten the life safety of the workers, and the lunar soil on the top of the karst tube can effectively resist the solar radiation.

This will greatly facilitate the construction of a lunar base and provide full protection for human production and life on the moon.”

When Korolev introduced all this, Brezhnev didn't understand at all, and he didn't know what the purpose of building a permanent base on the moon was.

But even so, he was still very excited. When Korolev was introducing, his eyes always fell involuntarily on his left chest. Now, the "Medal of Victory" that he had been thinking about, the highest honor of the Soviet Union, finally fell on his chest.

After the biggest threat, Shelepin, was eliminated, no one could stop Brezhnev from awarding himself the Order of Victory.

On the eve of Revolution Day last year, Brezhnev was awarded the Order of Victory in recognition of his contribution to the Soviet space industry.

In fact, the Order of Victory is a military medal, a commander-level medal, awarded to senior Soviet generals who "successfully completed one or several front campaigns and brought about fundamental changes in the overall situation of the war in favor of the Soviet army."

How can one be awarded a medal for contribution to the aerospace industry?

Aerospace...can also be applied to the military!

Moreover, after the successful moon landing, the Soviet Union had established absolute superiority over the United States in space. Isn't this a great "military" victory?

So, at the suggestion of "people", Brezhnev received the Order of Victory.

Well, for Brezhnev, this was exactly what he had dreamed of.

In fact, in many cases, what Brezhnev cared most about was what kind of medal or honor to be awarded to honor himself.

Who doesn’t like such a beautiful thing as a medal?
Of course, the awarding of the medal also ignited his unprecedented enthusiasm for work. Just like now, his enthusiasm for work is unprecedented. Looking through the report, Brezhnev said:

"So, they are going to build a space base on the moon."

"Yes,"

Korolev said:

"Now that they have discovered the lava tube, if they want, they can turn it into a base by sealing it off."

"Closed lava tube?"

Brezhnev said:
"Like cavemen?"

"Pretty much, but I imagine they'll build a base inside the lava tube while also building an external base inside the crater."

Korolev went on to explain:
"If they build a lunar base first, they will be ahead of us on the moon."

"We can't let the Americans surpass us, nor can we let the SEA surpass us. But, Comrade Korolev, I want to know, what is the significance of establishing a permanent lunar base?" Although he longed for honor, Brezhnev knew very well that a lunar base would cost money, and a lot of money.

The two moon landings had already made the military very dissatisfied - they had cost a lot of money.

"His meaning is..."

Thinking of the military's long-standing dissatisfaction with the aerospace industry squeezing out military spending, Korolev said:

“It can be applied to the military.”

“Can it be used in the military?”

Brezhnev immediately became interested and said:
"You mean, we can put nuclear weapons on the moon?"

Korolev immediately explained:
"Yes. In World War II, the side that lost air superiority would often be in a passive position. In the future, whether or not a military base can be established on the moon is as important as gaining air superiority during World War II. Unlike launching missiles on Earth, launching missiles from the moon only requires very little propellant to reach the Earth, and they are almost undetectable and uninterceptable. From a military perspective, the moon is the best space base."

Sometimes, this is the reality. If there is no prospect of military application, there will not be enough funding, especially in the Soviet Union. When Korolev launched the satellite, he relied on the intercontinental missile developed with the support of the military. Now, only with the support of the military can he realize his dream of establishing a permanent base on the moon.

As early as a few years ago, during the beginning of the moon landing project, Korolev proposed the idea of ​​"establishing a moon base and regular transportation between the earth and the moon" in the draft of the N-1 plan. In the past few years, they have jointly drawn a blueprint for a long-awaited moon base.

The lunar base was named "Long-term Lunar Base" by Korolev's OKB-1 Design Bureau and code-named "Zvezda".

Even though they designed everything, from the launch to the construction and energy supply of the lunar base, all of this costs money.

According to Korolev's calculations, this would cost billions of rubles, and such a huge expenditure would naturally not be approved. However, SEA's actions after landing on the moon gave Korolev hope - only with competition would the Soviet Union welcome it.

Of course there is a more important reason - military!
He believed that the military would approve the plan because the military could not guarantee that the United States would not build a missile base on the moon before it did.

Of course, the United States will also approve this plan. After all, no one can guarantee whether the moon will be militarized!

In this case, the best option is to join the competition.

Sure enough, facing Korolev's explanation, Brezhnev suddenly became nervous and said:
"So, the moon base is related to the security of the Soviet Union!"

Korolev nodded and said:

"Yes, even our future! Moreover, the Americans have similar plans."

For the Soviet Union, it may not care about the future, but it values ​​security more. The Great Patriotic War made the country suffer from "PTSD" from top to bottom. Stimulated by the sequelae of war stress trauma, they will definitely invest a lot of money in the construction of the lunar base to avoid being overtaken by others.

And so, at the arrival of the new year, the Soviet Union resolutely accepted the challenge - they would build a lunar base.

This is not just because of the stimulation of the lava tube discovered by SEA, but there is a more important reason. The United States also has plans to build a lunar base. And the United States has publicly announced that this is the next competition.

But achieving this goal is extremely difficult and requires more than just money.

"If nothing unexpected happens, the Kremlin will soon approve the 'Zhengzhou Project', but to realize this plan, we need a bigger rocket!"

After leaving the Kremlin, Korolev told Mishin:
"We need a giant rocket that can send at least 50 tons of cargo to the moon! Only in this way can we have a chance to build a lunar base."

Listening to the chief engineer's decision, Mishin thought for a moment and said:

"Comrade Chief Engineer, this is probably very difficult. Our N1 rocket has a carrying capacity of only 23 tons to the lunar transfer orbit. If we want to increase the carrying capacity, we must design a new rocket. Design a new rocket... We may not be able to catch up with Chelomei's progress."

The Chelomey mentioned by Mishin is another design bureau. They also participated in the design of the moon rocket. However, unlike Korolev, which used oxygen-kerosene propellant, the Chelomey next door is a poison cult. They have been competing for funds and resources all the time.

If it weren't for Korolev's faster progress and the powerful bosses of the Kuznetsov Design Bureau, who directly entered the era of high-pressure refueling kerosene engines, even if Jesus came, he would not have been able to come up with the N1 moon rocket.

But now Chelomei is chasing after him!
Whenever Korolev thought about Chelomei's competition, he became a little depressed. After all, it was very uncomfortable to have resources robbed by others. He even couldn't help complaining:

"In order to land on the moon, the Americans concentrated all the resources of the country. SEA not only concentrated their own resources, but also mobilized the resources of Britain and Canada, almost gathering the power of the whole world. And what about us? The precious resources are still scattered, and people are fighting for them. If we can gather all our strength..."

This is obviously impossible. This is determined by the Soviet system. In fact, Korolev and Chelomei are both aerospace bosses, but the former has a closer relationship with the Kremlin, while the latter has closer ties with the military. So how can two bosses with their own backers cooperate? Therefore, competing for resources is the most normal thing.

Thinking of this, Korolev couldn't help but sigh and said:

"For now, we don't have time to redesign the rocket, otherwise we will be ahead of Chelomey's UR-700 rocket, so we must focus on further improving the N1 rocket!"

After he finished speaking, Korolev looked into the distance with a serious expression. He knew that this was his only chance to win...

(End of this chapter)