This star is going to the moon

Chapter 251 Who says being "studied" isn't participating in scientific research?
In fact, people debated whether "space tourists" should be considered astronauts in the previous life.

Many people feel that "space tourists" cannot be considered astronauts.

Lu Yun thought so too in his previous life.

But in this life, Blue Star Aerospace Company is going to develop space tourism on a large scale...

Lu Yun felt that his thoughts in his previous life were flawed.

Why aren't "space tourists" astronauts?
"Space tourists" are just like astronauts!
It's not hard to guess why people thought "space tourists" weren't astronauts in the previous life; even Lu Yun himself knew it directly.

In fact, astronauts are selected human elites, including elite pilots and elite scientists. They can only enter space after rigorous selection and years of training.

And they have an important mission once they enter space.

They had to do a lot of work, including building, repairing, and maintaining the space station, as well as conducting various scientific experiments. They had to endure the harmful effects of zero gravity and space radiation on the human body in order to lay the foundation for future technological development.

Not to mention that many astronauts have sacrificed their lives for this cause throughout history, especially during the early exploration phase of manned spaceflight.

"Space tourists" are different. Their training time is very short, and their time in space is also short, usually only a few days before returning.

And their primary mission after entering space is to "play".

Although some missions may include so-called "scientific experiments," these are actually part of the "play experience" they purchased, designed to make them look like astronauts rather than simply going to space for fun.

People spend money to make themselves look like astronauts, but others don't recognize them. Is that reasonable?
Of course, that would be fine, as there are still some people who acknowledge that they are astronauts.

But then came the troublemakers.

In a broad sense, the "space tourism" that is often mentioned can be categorized into four types: parabolic flight of airplanes, high-altitude flight close to space, suborbital flight, and orbital flight.

Parabolic flight is the training exercise for astronauts to experience weightlessness. At an altitude of 10,000 meters, astronauts experience weightlessness for a few tens of seconds, and the cost is approximately $5000.

High-altitude flights close to space are not true space tourism, but they can give tourists the feeling of being at extremely high altitudes.

When tourists fly to an altitude of 18 kilometers above the ground, they can see the terrain curves of the earth below and the dark sky above, experiencing a sense of boundless emptiness.

It looks just like space.

The aircraft used for this type of tourism include the Russian MiG-25 and MiG-31 high-performance fighter jets.

These planes can fly at altitudes of over 24 kilometers, and each ticket for a tour on them costs approximately $1.

These two services are essentially just experiences; nobody considers anyone who buys them to be an astronaut.

They don't even qualify as "space tourists".

Suborbital flight is quite impressive; it is actually a kind of parabolic flight, but it is launched much higher, directly to the 100-kilometer Kármán line.

Theoretically speaking, once you cross the Kármán line, which is 100 kilometers above the ground, you're in space.

The rocket or spacecraft will shut down its engines when it approaches the Karman line, then use inertia to cross the Karman line and finally land on the ground. During the period of rocket engine shutdown and re-entry into the atmosphere, it can experience a few minutes of weightlessness.

The price of such a flight is approximately several hundred thousand US dollars per person per trip.

At this point, the passengers have passed the lowest "space Kármán line" and can experience weightlessness for a few minutes. They can also see the very round curvature of the Earth and the pitch-black space, so some people say that they can be considered astronauts.

True orbital space tourism goes without saying, costing tens of millions of dollars to spend a few days in space, and even allowing entry to the International Space Station. Originally, many people considered this type of "space tourist" to be astronauts, but when those tourists on suborbital flights also started claiming to be astronauts, the public began to exclude "space tourists" from the astronaut category as well.

Space tourist: "F@#&*@!!!"

But in this life, Lu Yun is going to set the record straight for "space tourists"!

The Tiangong space station will most likely not allow "space tourists" to enter and cause trouble, so basically "space tourists" will only stay in the "Muyuan" spacecraft for a few hours before returning to Earth.

That's okay, because the first American astronaut to enter space also completed three orbital flights, lasting 4 hours and 55 minutes.

This is the same timeline as the initial space tourism planning of the "Wooden Kite".

Regardless of how long they trained beforehand, if an American astronaut completes three orbits in orbit, they're considered an astronaut, but if the passengers on my "Wooden Kite" spacecraft complete three orbits in orbit, they're not considered astronauts?
To say they didn't do any experiments, early astronauts were just "tethered" to their chairs, what kind of experiments could they have done?
Once the "Wooden Kite" enters space, passengers will be able to unbuckle their seatbelts and fly around the cabin.

Taking photos with the Earth and space through the porthole is an important "subject".

Yes, Lu Yun also plans to develop these into "space research subjects," allowing "space tourists" to conduct scientific research in space.

For example, "On the impact of more and more people entering space in a more convenient way on human technological development and the construction of spiritual civilization."

Well, who says being "studied" isn't participating in scientific research?
Of course, Lu Yun will not announce this now, but will wait until space tourism is open.

This is the killer app for attracting customers.

Those who bought tickets for space travel in the early days were definitely wealthy people. Apart from those who were genuinely drawn to space or simply curious and had the money to go, most of the rest needed to be given a "name".

The wealthy have already obtained the "profit" in the "fame" part; all they need is "fame" to complete the set. How could they not be tempted?
Just like a few days later, those popular celebrities who were photographed attending the second dress rehearsal for the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, were their photos of entering and leaving the CCTV building really taken by chance, then posted online, and quickly spread?
They just wanted fame, so they had their own people film it.

Especially if you're filmed the first time, you absolutely must be filmed again the second time, because CCTV's Spring Festival Gala rehearses several times, and even the last rehearsal carries the risk of being cut.

Therefore, I must be present in every rehearsal to prove my ability.

[This brother is so popular that CCTV invited him to the Spring Festival Gala in order to boost the show's popularity!]

[You're so cool, CCTV's Spring Festival Gala can't do without you!]

[Wow, our Xiao Zhan has not only become the "King of Weibo," but he's also going to participate in both CCTV's and Beijing TV's Spring Festival Galas! He's really hot!]

[Haha, someone's fans are about to cry. They said their idol was going to be popular, but he only got a quarter of the "Weibo Male God" awards, and he wasn't even on CCTV's Spring Festival Gala. Is that what you call popular?]

[I'm so angry, ladies! We can't let Xiao Zhan's fans be so rampant. I've already posted my article about him selling hooks online; you can go check it out and get some revenge!]

Yes, we could even translate those articles into English and introduce them to foreigners. After all, AO3 is mostly frequented by foreigners; let them see what it's like!

Haha, my sisters are so mean, but I love it...

………………

Another space-related conference in the US.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our agents have successfully infiltrated Blue Star Space as 'future astronauts' and have even met Lu Yun. This is a very good start!"

(End of this chapter)