It's normal to develop some black technology in the future, right?

Chapter 389 Heaven and Hell

"If Bezos were to do it, it's possible, but if it were Elon, it's unlikely.

After all, they have been preparing for returning to the moon for so many years, whether it is the lunar orbiting process or various preliminary preparations.

It's not Elon's style that this thing will fail." Chen Yuanguang stared at the screen.

SpaceX's live broadcast quality is very clear, providing live broadcast services to global audiences, and the video picture can reach 4K standards.

As for the live broadcast of Guangjia Aerospace's launch, even though they used 4K camera equipment, when it was played on streaming platforms such as Bilibili and Tik Tok, most of the time the audience could only see the image quality equivalent to 720P resolution.

The entire launch process is actually nothing special. It takes about a hundred hours from launch to the final landing on the moon, which is more than four days.

The starship launch has been carried out too many times, so there is nothing interesting to watch. The highlight this time is the starship's long-range flight and multiple rounds of aerial refueling.

Of course, Chen Yuanguang’s observation point is that this time it was not just one starship that was launched, but multiple starships.

The first starship launched will serve as an aerial refueling device to provide fuel for the last starship.

In other words, as long as the aerial refueling is completed smoothly, there will be no obstacles for the starship to send astronauts back to the moon.

SpaceX has only conducted one air test in the past, and this time it will be a test to refuel multiple times in orbit.

Chen Yuanguang never thought that SpaceX would fail, because the recovery of the Starship requires higher precision and it has been successful, so aerial refueling is just a piece of cake.

"How was your experience with the Changkong? I saw COMAC's report exaggerating it, what do you think?" Chen Yuanguang asked, staring at the screen.

He had no idea that there had been considerable controversy in the public opinion field surrounding Lin Jia's boarding the Changkong.

Lin Jia said directly: “Very good, I think it will be much better than the rocket ride experience.

For example, if you were to take a starship, the noise when it starts up would be much more serious than that of the Changkong."

When the Changkong commercial space plane project was launched, COMAC's direct competitor was Musk's SpaceX.

Because Musk announced a long time ago that he would use Starship to help people reach anywhere in the world in one hour.

After the Elephant Party came to power and had control over everything from the White House to both houses of the Senate, SpaceX's Starship obtained relevant licenses from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration).

(SpaceX's concept map of Starship commercial flight operations)
At that time, COMAC did not know when Musk's Starship would officially start commercial operations, but there was no doubt that their commercial competitor was Starship.

It is for this reason that Changkong has put a lot of effort into comfort.

At midnight China time, the starship's first two aerial refuelings went very smoothly.

Lin Jia finished watching and prepared to go back to his room to rest: "It's boring. I thought it would be fun to watch."

Although the director of NASA has repeatedly emphasized that this is not a counterattack against China's test flight of the space passenger plane, no matter what he said, no one really believes it. This is not a tit-for-tat against China's behavior.

Given this view, the Chinese naturally want to have fun. When seeing the fireworks exploding, Lin Jia had a similar expectation in his heart.

The fuel was successfully replenished, and the difficulty of landing on the moon later would be much smaller. Lin Jia was very clear about this. "I'm going to rest in my room."

Chen Yuanguang said without even turning his head: "I'll be there right away."

After the key technical difficulties were overcome, the old Chinese people all left the live broadcast room because there was nothing to watch.

It's just another success of SpaceX, which proves how awesome Musk is. It also proves that there is really no one else in America's aviation industry that can compete with it except SpaceX.

In the so-called commercial aerospace industry, there is still only one SpaceX to this day.

Fortunately, because of the existence of Light Armor Aerospace, China's space station has arrived in the near-moon orbit in advance and is waiting. This time, there are no so-called "fortunately, technology is mastered by civilization" opinions that are only emotions but no arguments.

In the past few years, there has been almost no room for gods to survive in China's public opinion field.

Chinese netizens quit the live broadcast room, and the same thing happened in other countries.

There was only one group of people who were watching the live broadcast without moving, and they were the astronauts who were still staying on the International Space Station.

With the completion of the large-scale construction of Starlink, the network environment on the International Space Station will also improve a lot with the help of Starlink.

Everyone can even watch 480P live broadcasts on the space station, with download speeds exceeding 100kb/s.

This has to be said to be a huge improvement.

"If you ask me, you should leave all tasks to SpaceX instead of leaving the construction of the space station to companies like Axiom Space, Sierra Nevada, Blue Origin, and Voyager Space." French astronaut Thomas and American astronaut Megan next to him complained.

He went on to say: "But fortunately, my service on the International Space Station will soon end. I think China's space station should be much better than the International Space Station."

This refers to the fact that the International Space Station has been plagued by various problems for a long time. The International Space Station was originally planned to be in service until 2030, but now it will end its service ahead of schedule in 2028.

He was sent into space by a Boeing spacecraft, but the spacecraft suffered a thruster failure and a helium leak, and he was trapped in space for more than half a year and could not return.

At that time, the two astronauts were so thin that they were unrecognizable, and the American election made people on Earth almost forget that the two were still in space.

Obviously, there are more problems with the space station, and air leaks in various modules are emerging one after another.

A large number of cracks began to appear in various compartments, and a rough estimate of the number of potential danger points was close to one hundred.

Thomas felt exhausted both physically and mentally, and even felt that there were hidden dangers everywhere on the International Space Station, and he felt extremely insecure.

All Thomas wanted was to quickly finish his last stint on the International Space Station.

As one of the few French astronauts, his next service will be on the Light Armor.

Megan showed an envious look, she knew very well that American astronauts would not have the opportunity to serve on the Light Armor for a long time.

As the first deep space station farthest from the earth, the Light Mech has extraordinary significance and no astronaut can refuse it.

"I heard that you are going to China for a while after you finish your service on the International Space Station," Megan asked.

Thomas nodded: "Yes, I will go to China for half a year to receive some new training content.

You know, after all, there are still significant differences between the Light Armor and the International Space Station, including long-distance navigation and changes in the space station environment, and relevant adaptation content needs to be re-learned.

Of course, these are not difficult points. The most difficult thing should be learning Chinese.

Although I started learning Chinese by myself a year and a half ago, and the European Astronaut Center in Cologne also hired a Chinese teacher to teach us Chinese, I am already old and it is still a bit difficult for me to learn Chinese. "Thomas said helplessly.

The operating interface of the Light Armor is almost entirely in Chinese, and Europe was informed in advance. Although Europe had many complaints, they asked if it could be adapted to English, and they would have no problem doing the translation work. However, Light Armor Aerospace refused, saying that there was nothing wrong with learning Chinese.

The Russian section is in Russian, while the American-led section is in English. I didn't see the French complain. Don't they have to learn English and Russian? Why are they complaining when it comes to Chinese?

Having a monopoly advantage is great. We are not worried at all about France asking us to terminate cooperation. If France terminates cooperation, there are many countries in the world willing to take over.

If Guangjia Aerospace is willing to sell, Japan is willing to pay twice the price to take it over, as Japanese can be seamlessly connected to Chinese learning.

"This is a sweet trouble." Megan complained. Even if she was willing to learn Chinese, she would not have the opportunity to go to the Light Armor Space Station.

The starship's aerial refueling and docking are extremely precise, with a kind of beauty like an elephant dancing.

"That's great. SpaceX is really amazing. Despite facing competition from light armor aerospace, SpaceX still has outstanding performance in many technologies." Thomas, who was watching the live broadcast, exclaimed.

He had such a feeling only because the French aerospace companies were not strong enough.

Safran bought the technology of the Pioneer series of reusable rockets from Aegis Aerospace and has always said that it would improve it and build a "starship" for France based on European engine technology.

That is, a reusable rocket with a super-large yield.

But the plan was repeatedly delayed and the test flight was delayed.

It’s actually not that strange in Europe, after all, other countries’ reusable rockets have been repeatedly delayed.

But everything is afraid of having a reference.

Compared with Guangjia Aerospace and SpaceX, Safran is not so good.

"But America only has SpaceX," Megan said helplessly.

On the second day and the third day, the starship flew to the moon as planned, without any accidents.

Thomas and Megan, as usual, were watching the live broadcast of the starship's return to the moon in their spare time after work, when suddenly the entire space station module began to sound the alarm.

"I think something bad is going on."

"Damn it!" Thomas and Megan looked at each other.

When Thomas arrived at the main operating console of the core module, he found that the place was already full of people, with nine astronauts gathered there.

"It's over. Air leaks caused by the aging of the space station have appeared in multiple compartments!"

"There is an air leak in the Zvezda service module."

"There is an air leak in the Destiny's laboratory cabin."

"Young man～

young man～

I was once in your shoes!

Young man～

young man～

I was out with the blues! "

The International Space Station was in chaos. They discovered that a large number of modules had air leaks for unknown reasons, and at this time, a crowd slowly began to gather in the White House.

The program tonight is that after the American astronauts successfully land on the moon, everyone will watch the live broadcast together, then the President will say a few words to the astronauts who landed on the moon, and finally the President will give a speech on the American space victory.

At this time, the President was waiting for the moment of landing on the moon. He was very proud that he could personally reopen the glory of American aerospace in the Reagan era - manned moon landing.

The song of "YMCA" echoed in the room, and the President was immersed in it, as if he had returned to the golden age of America.

"Mr. President, something terrible is happening!
The International Space Station has reached a level one risk, with air leaks occurring in all main manned modules. The temporary oxygen system on board can only support the astronauts for no more than six hours. The International Space Station has only two escape capsules, which can accommodate only four people, and there are currently 6 astronauts on board.

We must begin emergency rescue operations immediately."

This is a real blow to the President who is immersed in a sweet dream. He was just about to give a victory speech and make a good show on the live TV, but you tell me that the International Space Station is about to be destroyed and we need to discuss emergency rescue now?
So should I still give the speech? Is America a winner?
The president was furious: “What happened!”

“There’s an air leak in the space station.

To be precise, the problems with the International Space Station did not occur today, but have been occurring for a long time.

There were multiple leaks in 20 years. At that time, cracks in the Zvezda service module caused air leaks. Special people were sent up to carry out repair work.

In the past, the number of potential dangers in the International Space Station has been increasing, and the number of cracks that have been repaired has also been increasing. Now all the cracks have cracked, and the situation is already very critical."

In space, any small crack or "hidden danger point" may expand and have an overall impact on the space station.

More than once in the past, small compartments with cracks had to be closed, with the hatches only opened for repairs.

In the past, NASA and Russia's space agency have always solved problems in this way.

Didn't they know there was a problem? Of course they did.

But Big Mao and American blamed each other, you blamed me and I blamed you.

For example, NASA Deputy Administrator James Freeh has publicly accused Big Mao more than once before: "We have repeatedly emphasized the seriousness of the leak, but Big Mao turned a blind eye to it!"

Da Mao obviously couldn't stand it: "NASA never thought about solving the problem. They only thought about how to evacuate in case of disaster."

But no one is willing to truly and thoroughly solve this problem fundamentally.

The problems have accumulated and now have exploded.

And the timing was so clever.

This time the disaster has really come.

All the holes that had been patched up before began to leak collectively, and it was no longer possible for the closed small compartment to solve the problem.

Now all astronauts are facing a life-and-death crisis.

(End of this chapter)