This star is going to the moon

Chapter 446 Some people ride in space shuttles and become spacefaring men, while others cling to airplanes and become "flying men."

Having money can accomplish many things, but it's far from being able to do whatever you want.

Just like the US spent $20 billion on the development of the SLS rocket, but the result was that the first flight was delayed from the initial plan of 2016 to 2022.

Even with the "expedited fee" now added by New Glenn, its overall R&D costs are still much lower.

Although its payload capacity next year is half that of the SLS rocket, the size difference between the two rockets is not that significant.

(Comparison image of super-large rockets)
The core stage of the SLS rocket has a diameter of 8.4 meters, while that of the New Glenn rocket is 7 meters, and their heights are similar.

The main reason is that the early models of the SLS heavy rocket can only be considered as the "peak of heavy rockets" or "half-step super-heavy rockets", so the payload is less than 100 tons.

It will take until the second model to be promoted to "super heavy rocket".

The New Glenn Rockets are primarily designed for recovering payload capacity, so in terms of disposable payload capacity, the difference between the two is not that significant.

However, when it comes to R&D funding, the difference between the two is significant.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Bezos invests $10 billion annually in Blue Origin; not all of that money goes to the new Glenn R&D team, but also to other development purposes for the company.

Therefore, in terms of pure rocket development costs, the New Glenn rocket costs far less than the SLS rocket.

Even now that they've offered an express fee.

Even Elon Musk's "Super Falcon" rocket, which he is developing using a "bombing" approach, is larger than the SLS rocket, but its final development cost will definitely be less than that of the SLS.

The key "New Glenn" and "Super Falcon" rockets were developed from scratch, while much of the SLS rocket's technology came from parts of the Space Shuttle.

Even the SLS rocket uses engines from the Space Shuttle's stockpiled engines, with only minor upgrades to increase its carrying capacity.

However, they also used the space shuttle's reusable engines as disposable engines.

So if we're really talking about "money can buy anything," then we have to look at the SLS Rockets.

However, the SLS rocket is not progressing well.

Due to this wasteful approach, the SLS rocket's maiden flight was delayed by six years.

Its money was embezzled by Boeing...

Ahem, there's no corruption in the Federation. The money must have been used in a reasonable and legal way to go elsewhere, but it must have ended up on the SLS rocket!
However, even though Blue Origin's technical team uses funds more efficiently than the SLS team, the "money talks" principle in technology is greatly diminished.

Some technologies simply cannot be developed without sufficient time.

After all, Bezos only gave $4000 billion, not $40 billion or $400 billion!
He didn't just give out the money "as he pleased".

If not enough money is given, then the premise that "money can buy anything" is not really valid.

Based on Lu Yun's current understanding of aerospace technology, as well as his knowledge of the New Glenn rocket after its maiden flight in 1925 from his previous life, he felt that even if New Glenn offered "expedited service" in this life, it would still be impossible for it to have its maiden flight next year.

Just like a master player will only get worse when playing against a terrible player.

The development team for the New Glenn rocket has been implementing a "slow is fast" strategy for several years and has long been accustomed to the "leisurely" pace.

Now that they've been given money to get things running at full speed, it looks fast, but in reality, they're just like those people who appear extremely busy but are just going around in circles next to the people who are actually doing the work.

In reality, they're still slacking off.

Of course, Bezos' Blue Origin Space Company is not Boeing; it does get paid and does real work, but it will take some time to readjust.

Therefore, Lu Yun estimates that the New Glenn rocket may make its maiden flight in two or three years.

That is, two years earlier than in the previous life, and one year later than Bezos's requirement in this life. However, the news of Blue Origin increasing its investment to squeeze into the space age was quickly forgotten by netizens after only a few days.

After all, the investment has been made, but it's all for naught if we don't see the finished product.

If we're talking about something lively, then the Binhai Space Airport is the most bustling place.

Since the beginning of July, Blue Star Aerospace has officially started its weekly space tourism flights, with the "Lingji Yidong" space shuttle taking off every Sunday morning at 9:00 AM.

Therefore, every Sunday, many spectators gather at the viewing area outside the space airport to watch.

With the weekly spaceflight now in operation, the service market for visitors in the viewing area has officially opened up.

Binhai City has also been very successful in developing tourism around the aerospace industry, and Binhai Aerospace City is becoming the world's most famous aerospace scenic spot!
The Binhai Aerospace City is currently building a huge aerospace museum, which aims to become the "world's largest aerospace museum".

The National Air and Space Museum and the Houston Space Center in the US have exhibits of the Space Shuttle, Saturn V rocket, and Apollo manned lunar landing, among other things. The Coastal Space Museum should do something similar in the future.

With the emergence of various new types of domestically produced rockets and spacecraft, and their rapid development, many older models of rockets and spacecraft have been retired before they have even been launched.

Perfect, now we have the physical exhibits for the museum.

Moreover, China and Laos now have considerable space capabilities, and they can also exhibit the lunar soil excavated by Chang'e 5.

Then there were lunar soil samples from the far side of the moon, which were collected by Chang'e 6. These are extremely rare items that even the Americans don't have.

The space shuttle is currently in service, so the actual machine can't be brought to the exhibition. However, we should be able to buy the earliest engineering prototype from Lu Yun. After washing, airing, and grooming it, we can bring it to the museum.

The "Wooden Kite" class space shuttle is several levels above the American Space Shuttle.

It's okay if we don't have a super rocket like the Saturn V to anchor the lineup; we can start with a 1:1 scale model of the Long March 10 heavy rocket, which is big enough.

Once China and Laos have completed their own manned lunar landing project, the reusable heavy Long March 10 rocket will eventually be decommissioned. We can collect three first-stage boosters, and then work on some second and third stages and fairings.

However, just as everyone was paying attention to the new space tourism flight "Space Flyer", news of a "Flyer" also came from the United States.

Or perhaps it's just related to Americans; the actual location is Kabul in the desert region.

That was a video of Americans evacuating on military planes, but many of the local collaborators who worked for them also wanted to leave, resulting in a scene similar to the Americans' evacuation from Saigon.

However, this video doesn't show a helicopter, nor does it show someone climbing onto a plane and getting "fisted"; instead, it shows someone directly clinging to a transport plane!

On the runway, a dark mass of collaborators followed the plane. When they realized the Americans didn't want to take them with them, they frantically clung to the plane. Some stood on the landing gear, others clung to the gaps, desperately trying to escape the place they had betrayed, fearing they would be ostracized.

But the military aircraft took off without hesitation, and those who were clinging to the plane immediately fell to the ground.

It's unclear how the people at the scene felt, but viewers of the video were genuinely shocked.

This is terrifying! Is it really that serious?

Of course they did! You have no idea what they were doing there!

Indeed, although I don't know what they did, if they had any other means, they certainly wouldn't have come up with something like stealing from an airplane.

[Serves them right! I hope all traitors and collaborators around the world end up like this!]

[I can't believe the Americans actually withdrew. Are they just going to give up on this strategic foothold they worked so hard to capture?]

[Haha, it's obvious the Americans are just like these collaborators; if there were any other options, they certainly wouldn't have gone this far as to evacuate.]

The US has clearly weakened. They were so powerful when they launched their military intervention, but now they're withdrawing in such a pathetic state…

(End of this chapter)