This star is going to the moon

Chapter 340 The American's Dilemma: Lu Yun Single-handedly Disrupts the "Celebrity Proposal Ceremony" (4000 words)
Of course, when the wooden kite, carrying six people, returned to Earth to prepare for landing, the spectators outside the venue cheered and became excited.

"It's back, it's back!"

"The landing attitude is really stable. No wonder it's a groundbreaking space shuttle developed by Lu Yun's team!"

"Awesome! Lu Yun is awesome!"

"I witnessed history today. It was definitely worth flying here to see the Muyuan take off and land in person."

"Haha, speaking of this reminds me of my friend. He came last time, so he didn't come this time. He just texted me saying he suffered a huge loss!"

"Lu Yunguang has made so much history in just a few hours today. No wonder he is known as 'Saint Lu' on foreign websites and 'God Lu' in China."

"Indeed, I've learned a lot today. Lu Yun breaks all kinds of records and creates all kinds of new history as if it were child's play."

"You can't say that. Only Lu Yun himself knows the hardships involved. We're just looking at the results in the end. Maybe Lu Yun is also troubled by problems and feels very frustrated in private. After all, we're all human."

"Brother, although we are all human, we cannot generalize about one another."

"Indeed, and some things only look like a person, but they are not people, they are just more anthropomorphic, so not all of them are people."

"Hahaha, well said. Although you didn't say it explicitly, I think I know who you're talking about."

"The Wooden Kite has landed, and the drag chute has deployed..."

"It has slowed down..."

When the Wooden Kite shut down its engines and slowed down to rely entirely on electric power to find the boarding bridge, the people outside cheered.

When Lu Yun and the others stepped out of the cabin and stood behind the large window of the jet bridge waving to them, the cheers grew even louder.

Lu Yun and the others had only been in space for a few hours, and their bodies had not yet adapted to the weightless environment of space. Therefore, there was no need for them to readjust to Earth's gravity. Instead, they went directly into the isolation room.

After spending some time in the isolation room, they came out to give interviews, where many reporters had been waiting for a long time.

Compared to the initial assumption that it was just a simple space trip, the reporters who also watched the live broadcast knew that Lu Yun and others who returned had more topics to interview.

Especially for entertainment media outlets that came to ride the wave of traffic, they never expected to actually get a major entertainment news story!

"A marriage proposal in space against the backdrop of our motherland's territory—we must make it the top entertainment news for the next few days!"

"That's right, I've already figured out how to write it: extreme comparison and contrast, comparing Lu Yun's space proposal with those 'ordinary' proposals from other celebrities. The traffic will skyrocket!"

"Hey, you kid..."

In contrast to the lively atmosphere on the Chinese side, the air pressure on the American side was relatively low.

There's nothing we can do. Even without Lu Yun's situation, anyone who has to work overtime at three or four in the morning would feel depressed.

Since it's broad daylight here in China, the Muyuan took off at 10 a.m. and flew three laps until 3 p.m., while the time difference between the US and China is very large, so it's currently the early morning.

NASA, Boeing Space, Lockheed Martin Space, SpaceX, and others all have a special office that is always brightly lit.

All these offices were watching Lu Yun's first live-streamed flight.

At first, it was purely a technical analysis, or a commentary on Lu Yun's courage and confidence.

As for that initial kiss on the cheek in the airport lobby, that's nothing to Americans.

There are so many things like this in America: a passionate kiss before departure, sex before the big battle, and getting married as soon as they return.

The space proposal that followed was indeed romantic for them.

Or perhaps it's the romance of aerospace scientists.

Many of them could relate to this.

They would have liked to do that if their previous technology hadn't prevented it.

This also made them realize once again just how young Lu Yun is.

"He's not even thirty years old yet, but he already has such technical skills. It feels like he's even more impressive than Qian was back then."

"Yes, Qian was still pursuing his doctorate under Professor von Kármán at his age."

"Sigh, why are all these talented people in China? If the money hadn't gone with them..."

"There are no 'what ifs.' If the money hadn't been taken, it would probably have been destroyed by McCarthyism and the Loyalty Act, and it wouldn't have accelerated our space development at all."

"That's good too, at least we didn't have to send him back."

"Alright, that happened so many years ago, there's no point in talking about it. Let's think about how to report to the President after dawn."

"Actually, for the President, the impact of Lu Yun's personal test flight is not as great as the first unmanned test flight and the first manned test flight of the Wooden Kite. It only has a great impact relative to the world's aerospace field."

"That's the theory, but our current president is known for not following the rules. Who knows what he might care about?"

“I don’t think it matters. Whatever he cares about, he only has a few months left in his term.”

"Indeed, the current polls are completely unfavorable to him."

"Let's think about how to deal with Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and AirX. They will definitely try to get funding in various ways, but we must put more funding into the return to the moon mission."

"Yes, that's how it should be..."

However, despite saying that, the people in the NASA conference room had different expressions, clearly each having their own plans.

On the other hand, the mood in the Boeing and Airbus conference room was much more unified.

Regardless of whether Boeing's Starliner spacecraft has any problems, it is indeed intended to launch commercial space tourism projects in the future.

Although Elon Musk's Crew Dragon spacecraft had previously taken the lead, both are reusable crewed spacecraft with the same specifications and similar prices.

Given that the initial phase of a space tourism project is likely to involve only one or two years, the difference between a few months earlier or later will not have a significant impact.

Boeing still believes it has a chance.

Unexpectedly, Lu Yun appeared out of nowhere.

While they were still competing with tractors, Lu Yun suddenly appeared with a station wagon!

"We can't cling to manned spacecraft anymore. No matter how reusable they are, they're still several generations behind space shuttles."

"Indeed, we need to develop a space shuttle too!"

“This can’t be developed in a short time, but Lockheed Martin has been secretly poaching our engineers recently. What do you think? Should we just cooperate with them to develop the X-33 single-stage-to-orbit space shuttle?”

"It's not impossible. Although the X-33 is not as good as the Kite-class space shuttle, it is at least a single-stage-to-orbit spacecraft, so it can be considered to be in the same class."

"I think so too. Lockheed Martin already has the initial technology. If we add our technical support, I think the X-33's progress should be faster, and it might even have its maiden flight next year!"

"Okay, let's have a meeting to discuss it after dawn..."

In contrast, Elon Musk no longer cares about manned spacecraft.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft is definitely no match for the Space Shuttle; there's a significant generational gap between manned spacecraft and space shuttles. However, because its Crew Dragon completed its manned test flight before Boeing's Starliner, it has already signed a contract with NASA for over ten crewed round-trip missions to the space station, bringing in billions of dollars.

Whether this transportation contract will be renewed after it's completed is another matter, since that's several years from now.

With such a foundation for manned spaceflight, Elon Musk will no longer pursue space shuttles; he has staked all his resources on the 9-meter diameter "Super Falcon" rocket.

Although the Super Falcon is a traditional two-stage rocket, both stages are fully recoverable. Its second stage is 50 meters high and weighs more than 1000 tons after being fueled. It can carry 100 people into space.

Isn't this even more awesome than a tiny space shuttle?
Most importantly, Elon Musk is confident that the "Super Falcon" will be in service within four years, enabling it to transport cargo and people at extremely low cost.

Yes, what he said before about launching an unmanned rocket to Mars in two years and landing a manned rocket on Mars in four years was all bragging.

His goal is to enter service within four years, and if things go well, he could then launch unmanned rockets to Mars.

Just as Ma Yilong was envisioning the future, Lu Yun and the others emerged from the isolation room.

They have taken off their "Blue Star" intravehicular activity suits and put on "Blue Star" regular uniforms with an "astronaut uniform style".

This garment is similar to an astronaut's regular suit, but in a lighter color.

(Astronaut's regular uniform)

Because they were dressed in casual clothes, when Lu Yun and An Fangfei appeared, entertainment reporters immediately noticed the ring on An Fangfei's hand.

This instantly excited them.

So when Lu Yun and his group sat down, the reporters bombarded them with questions, and their cameras were clicking away.

Moreover, not only were reporters at the scene asking questions, but many viewers in the live broadcast room were also asking questions.

Flower Company: "Mr. Lu Yun, what are your thoughts as the first aerospace designer to travel to space in a spacecraft he designed and built?"

CCTV: "Mr. Lu Yun, do you know how many new records and new history you have set today?"

Aerospace News: "Academician Ye, at the age of 75, do you experience any discomfort going into space?"

Business & Technology News: "Mr. Yu Xingchen, will your personal trip to space have any different impact on the future management and development of Blue Star Aerospace Company?"

The alarming report asked: "Mr. Zhao Chuandong, what are your thoughts on having to switch from being an official astronaut to a commercial astronaut to have the opportunity to go into space?"

Zhao Chuandong: "?"

Damn it, no wonder it's called the Heart-Stopping Newspaper; its words alone are enough to send chills down your spine.

They actually tried to harm me!
Zhao Chuandong's answer was very official and watertight, leaving the Xin Jing Bao with no loopholes.

After these aerospace-related questions were asked, the entertainment media finally spoke up.

"Fangfei, Fangfei, we are an entertainment weekly. How did you feel when Lu Yun put the diamond ring on your finger?"

An Fangfei smiled upon hearing this, raised her hand to show the ring, and said, "This isn't a diamond ring, you know. This sparkly, transparent crystal is actually glass."

"?"

An Fangfei's words stunned everyone, even the mainstream media fell silent.

Everyone instinctively looked at Lu Yun.

Lu Yun glanced helplessly at An Fangfei.

An Fangfei chuckled and continued, "But this isn't ordinary glass; it's made from the same glass material used for the portholes of the Muyuan space shuttle."

"The ring itself is not made of platinum, but of a special titanium alloy, which is also the material of the main frame of the Muyuan space shuttle."

"So what I'm wearing on my hand isn't a ring, but a wooden kite that witnessed our love."

Wow!

Since the live broadcast was without sound, viewers only heard the explanations from the host and experts, and mainly watched the visuals, so they really didn't know what Lu Yun said when he proposed.

Now that An Fangfei has told everyone the story behind the ring, everyone immediately felt that the proposal was even more romantic than before!

The barrage of comments also exploded.

[This is so romantic, I'm dying!]

[Croak! Seeing such a romantic gesture, I'd die happy!]

[Damn, Lu Yun is clearly a science and engineering guy who does scientific research, how come he's so good at socializing and so romantic?]

[Because Lu Yun isn't just a researcher; he's also an artist.]

Indeed, compared to those talentless but popular celebrities, Lu Yun's film and television works are of a quality worthy of the title "artistic worker."

When my husband proposed to me, he sewed a ring out of a nut, which I thought was very romantic.

[The key is that Lu Yun not only has ideas, but he can also put them into practice, as evidenced by his design of the Wooden Kite.]

[Incredible! Absolutely amazing!]

[It's decided! Once Blue Star Aerospace launches its space tourism project, I'm going to propose in space!]

[It's getting increasingly chaotic; those celebrities probably hate Lu Yun for stealing their attention.]

[Haha, they'll definitely resent Lu Yun for raising the bar for marriage proposals. What are all the other celebrities who haven't proposed yet supposed to do?]

【Then let's propose on the moon!】

I know there's a near-Earth asteroid called "Eros," it would be amazing to propose or get married there...

In fact, even without entertainment media stirring things up, netizens themselves started comparing previous celebrity proposal scenes.

Leaving aside the ordinary ones, one of the more memorable ones is proposing at one's own concert.

There are also cases where the woman is completely unprepared for a marriage proposal, which is made through a video message and the blessings of friends present.

There were even marriage proposals at the awards ceremony.

Others, with technical skills, propose by using a remote-controlled helicopter to carry the diamond ring.

There's even a "relay proposal" where multiple tables of guests propose one after another, with the final proposal coming from the man himself – a truly creative idea.

But things changed after that. Lu Yun took his marriage proposal to space and even took photos with the motherland's territory as the background. No matter how creative others were, they all seemed weak in comparison.

Moreover, the vehicle that Lu Yun and An Fangfei used to go to space was designed by Lu Yun himself, and the engagement ring was also related to the vehicle. Many things are connected.

However, they didn't care about any of that, because they received a call from their parents while they were in the isolation room.

The parents from both families watched the previous live stream, and they were surprised to see such a delightful surprise!
Both sets of parents were overjoyed.

So when are you getting married?

(End of this chapter)