This star is going to the moon

Chapter 420 Are the Americans Really Capable? The Pan-Ga Friendship
The selection of the lunar module service provider by NASA has generated a huge response worldwide.

After all, the previous promise to "return to the moon" has been repeatedly delayed due to problems with rockets and spacecraft, which has made many people uneasy.

Are Americans really capable?
However, once the final piece of the "manned lunar landing trio" was finalized, it showed that the Americans were serious, despite the various problems that had arisen before.

Once the "three-piece set" is complete, we might actually be able to return to the moon in two or four years.

Although there are problems with the rocket and spacecraft, the progress is at least close to 100%, and the maiden flight can be carried out next year.

Elon Musk's 9-meter diameter "Super Falcon" rocket is known for its "hellish difficulty," but his development progress is also famously fast.

Of course, it's not as fast as Lu Yun, but tell me, is it fast or not?

Four advanced prototypes were blown up in just over four months. Which aerospace company or agency would dare to do this?

Most importantly, each explosion of the "Super Falcon" advanced prototype resulted in the verification and mastery of new technologies.

The fifth high-altitude test flight will take place next month, and Elon Musk has long claimed that there is a 99% chance of success.

Whether he's doing it to promote the "lunar module" selection or for the stock market, what if he actually succeeds?
So when this happened, a lot of netizens started discussing it, and also took the opportunity to criticize the Chinese.

[Urgent! Why hasn't our country's manned lunar landing mission been approved yet?]

[Yes, before, the US didn't have all three tools for a manned lunar landing, so the future was uncertain. Now that they have, they might actually be able to return to the moon in two or four years. Don't we have anything to say about that?]

Perhaps we don't care about the space race. After all, the Americans landed on the moon with humans decades ago. No matter how much we compete, we'll only be second. What's the point of arguing about a predetermined outcome?

[Isn't it said that the US manned moon landing decades ago was fake? After all, their current efforts to return to the moon are so difficult, how did they manage to land there decades ago?]

[This lunar module selection process clearly shows that the US is short of money now. Decades ago, the US was incredibly wealthy; that manned lunar landing was funded entirely with US dollars!]

That's true. The US seems stronger now, the world's only superpower, but in some ways it has indeed declined compared to decades ago.

I think our space program has always followed its own path. The current focus should be on lunar resource exploration. If we can find water, that would be far more impressive than any "second manned lunar landing."

[This should be it. A manned lunar landing will likely have to wait until water is found, since there's absolutely no sign of the Long March 10 heavy-lift rocket. Without it, we can't send people to the moon.]

[That's right, people used to say the SLS rocket was a big delay, but it's actually almost finished and can have its maiden flight next year.]

[Well, even if Lu Yun is a famously quick-draw writer, and could develop a heavy-duty rocket in 12 or 13 years, that would still be 2 or 4 years. We only had a lunar rocket in 2 or 4 years, while they had already returned to the moon in 2 or 4 years.]

It seems the Americans are still pretty awesome. Even though they're starting to decline, they're still incredibly resilient and won't collapse overnight.

Indeed, but things are much better now than before. Looking back at the last space race, we were practically on the sidelines. The US only launched its first artificial satellite the year after its manned moon landing. Now, we're being urged to start a new space race with the US.

[The key is that they've also won a round in the field of manned spaceflight...]

Although the Chinese don't admit it, everyone thinks that China and the US are already engaged in a new round of space race.

Therefore, in many situations, the protagonist's opinion doesn't matter; it all depends on how others interpret it.

It's understandable that Laos and China aren't racing with the US to land a manned lunar probe. After all, judging from the space activities of other countries, whether Laos and China achieve a manned lunar landing in 2024 or 2030, they will still be the second human to do so.

Then there's nothing to argue about.

China and the US are particularly adept at employing a "you do your thing, I'll do mine" strategy. While the US pursues its return to the moon, China focuses on lunar resource exploration.

It's clear they're planning a long-term strategy.

In other words, China's first manned lunar landing was intended for a long-term stay, not some kind of "tourist flag-planting" manned lunar landing.

Of course, this is because they were unaware of the internal situation of Lao Zhong, nor did they know Lu Yun's true strength, which led to their strategic misjudgment.

While China is engaged in lunar resource exploration, it hasn't neglected manned lunar landing either, just without making it public.

Given China's current strength, it is possible for them to do something like "I want it all".

The same thing happened in the previous life. While the US was struggling with various military projects, China was flourishing across the board, researching all sorts of new military equipment. Military enthusiasts would occasionally see something frightening.

Whether it will be mass-produced and deployed will be discussed later; we have to get it out and try it out first.

In this life, the Americans declared, "I can still do it," but found that the Chinese weren't taking the bait and were instead continuing with their plans, leaving the Americans feeling like they were "punching cotton."

Yes, speaking of cotton, previous crackdowns on cotton from Laos and China were not very effective.

This has left the Americans somewhat worried, as this tactic has clearly worked well against other countries.

The Chinese are indeed a much stronger enemy than the Russians!

After all, globalization was very low decades ago, and the connection between the US and Russia was not deep.

But things are different now. Globalization is so pervasive that Americans and Chinese are often intertwined.

If the US really decides to take drastic measures against China, it will be the US itself that suffers the most damage.

Especially since China is the world's factory, the US really can't survive without China.

Therefore, the US is gradually shifting from "promoting globalization" to "anti-globalization".

The US wants to move various industries back home and try to get rid of China's industrial influence as much as possible.

Just like how Americans used to be the ones shouting "free trade," now it's the Chinese who are shouting this slogan the most!

However, the Chinese have such strong industrial capabilities that they always have to sell what they produce.

This led to the emergence of e-commerce and live-streaming sales.

Just today, netizens discovered something shocking.

Uncle Pan, the old artist who previously advised Ga Zi not to sell fake liquor, is now selling fake liquor himself on a live stream!
"Link up!"

"You can't post the link, Uncle Pan! Posting the link like that will cost us at least 40 yuan in damages!"

"Pay 40? Then I'll give my friends a bottle of Golden Wine! Friends, fans, look closely, it's not the bottle that's golden, it's the color of the wine itself that's golden, this is something special!"

"Uncle Pan, Uncle Pan, you can't do this! We'll have to pay 60 yuan!"

"What do you mean by 'compensation'? Give me the link, and I'll order 10,000 orders right away!"

"It's sold out in seconds! Wow, 10,000 orders sold out in seconds..."

【what? 】

【Fuck! 】

What happened?

【Holy crap, am I seeing things? Uncle Pan sells fake alcohol too?】

[It might not be a fake bar. Could it be a new brand we've never heard of? Would a respected and virtuous veteran artist like Uncle Pan do something like this?]

I checked, and this stuff is just cheap liquor being sold as high-end; it's basically fake!

Yes, it's the same model as Ga Zi!

[Oh no, my image of Uncle Pan has collapsed. Uncle Pan has become Panzi.]

[It's not so bad that Uncle Pan sells fake alcohol; what if he's been scammed? The problem is how quickly he changed his tune. Just a few days ago he was advising Ga Zi, and now he's selling it himself.]

This is what "Panga friendship" is all about!

(End of this chapter)