Reborn Before the Apocalypse: My Backing is the Nation

Chapter 82 is in good condition.

One rocket after another roared into the sky, either exploding into fireworks or disappearing completely into the clouds.

Dozens of man-made flying objects have appeared in orbit hundreds of kilometers above Earth.

These man-made flying objects come in various shapes; some resemble a car, some a winged bird, and others are square, like a large box.

These flying objects have very similar and close orbits, all rotating around the Earth at a speed of 10 kilometers per second, completing one revolution every hour or so, like a ring floating in the sky above the Earth.

Starting from the ring, spacecraft continuously activated their propulsion systems, slowly increasing their speed until they finally flew towards the moon along the Earth-Moon transfer orbit.

At the end of the ring, flying objects constantly take off from the ground and merge into the ring to orbit the Earth together.

They left while replenishing their supplies.

The operation was temporarily concluded only when the last rocket finally lifted off from the launch site, adding the 47th object to the ring.

Fewer and fewer man-made objects are floating in Earth's orbit, until only one remains.

It eventually began to accelerate, and propelled by the hot gas at its tail, its speed gradually increased, and as it faced the moon, it successfully entered the Earth-Moon transfer orbit.

These 47 flying objects are roughly arranged in a straight line in the vast space, with a distance of thousands to tens of thousands of kilometers between them, like a long sword pointing from the Earth to the Moon, or like a bridge connecting the two massive planets.

When the last object in the Earth's sphere merged into the bridge, at the end of the bridge, the first lunar probe satellite launched had already reached its orbital change position.

Amidst the violent jets, its trajectory changed again, from passing by the moon to orbiting it.

Before it could complete its self-check and officially enter operational mode, the second satellite arrived, then the third, the fourth...

Zhao Jianguo, who had slept for four hours in a weightless environment, was now awake.

Aside from being slightly hungry, which might affect his reaction speed and strength, he felt that his condition was not much different from when he was on Earth.

I have absolutely no problem handling the work ahead.

He floated in the weightless cabin, carefully checking the readings and working status of each device, and finally sent a report to the Earth command center.

"Earth, Earth, this is Lunar 7 spacecraft. I have completed manual checks and am in good condition. I can land now."

"Earth received. The first orbital maneuver will take place in three minutes."

In the vast expanse of space, this small, cone-shaped spacecraft, like the previous satellites, also began to maneuver.

Its orbit became increasingly flat, and eventually, after reaching a limit, it began to slowly eliminate radial velocity, and its flight relative to the moon became perpendicular.

Like a shooting star, it plummeted straight down towards the desolate and lifeless land of the moon.

Because China lacks experience in manned lunar landings, the automated execution program of this landing spacecraft is quite immature.

In addition, there is a two-way communication delay of up to 2.5 seconds between the Moon and Earth, so the experts at the Earth base can only play a supporting role at this time.

The most important aspects often require astronauts to make their own judgments and carry out their own actions.

The moon landing was an unprecedentedly massive project, with countless steps involved, and if even one step went wrong, it could lead to the entire project failing.

The cabin was still in a state of weightlessness. Under these conditions, Zhao Jianguo quickly pressed buttons and turned switches on and off. Although his movements were swift, there was no sign of panic; everything was orderly and smooth.

With the assistance of ground experts, Luna 7 descended rapidly, and the desolate and lifeless land of the moon below seemed to be magnified, expanding rapidly.

When the altitude was down to 3000 meters, several scorching flames suddenly shot out from the bottom of the cone-shaped spaceship, abruptly slowing its descent.

Although he had already assumed an impact-resistant posture by lying prone at the bottom of the spaceship, the instantaneous switch from a zero-gravity environment to an environment with more than 1.6 times the gravity of Earth still felt like a heavy blow to Zhao Jianguo, causing him to let out a muffled groan.

Fortunately, this gravitational environment did not last long, only less than two seconds.

The next moment, the gravity rapidly decreased. Ignoring his discomfort, Zhao Jianguo quickly got up to check the equipment readings.

Fortunately, everything is normal.

Under the intense jets of flame, the cone-shaped spacecraft gradually slowed down. With the assistance of radar scanning equipment and lunar reconnaissance satellites, Zhao Jianguo began another crucial mission.

Find a suitable landing site.

The landing site must be flat and firm. Otherwise, if it lands on a large rock and the spaceship capsizes, I'll probably be trapped inside and die.

His gaze was like that of a hawk, rapidly scanning between radar and satellite signals, using this data to subtly adjust the direction of the spacecraft's exhaust plume.

As a result, the spaceship's landing trajectory shifted slightly, avoiding the area filled with rubble.

Finally, the spacecraft stopped ejecting two meters above the lunar surface. Under the moon's gravitational field, the spacecraft, with a total mass of nearly one ton, along with Zhao Jianguo inside, "slammed" onto the lunar surface at a speed of 2.5 meters per second.

The thick moon dust was suddenly thrown up like water droplets by the impact, and then slowly fell back down, swirling and fluttering.

Feeling the same gravity as in the gravity simulator, Zhao Jianguo lay at the bottom of the spaceship, took a breath, and then got up again.

After checking and confirming that all the equipment in the cramped cabin was functioning properly, he sent the first greeting from the moon to Earth.

"Reporting to Earth, Luna 7 has successfully landed. The spacecraft is in good condition, and I personally feel good."

"Earth received. Proceed with the follow-up mission as planned."

Ignoring the faint applause and cheers coming through the Earth signal, Zhao Jianguo put on the purely mechanical spacesuit, made up of countless gears, springs, steel rods, and connectors, piece by piece.

Even though ground experts have taken weight into account as much as possible and adopted lightweight materials and designs, the total weight of this all-mechanical spacesuit, including the oxygen, water and food reserves that must be carried, is still as high as 100 kilograms.

It can be said that a large portion of the payload inside the spacecraft was taken up by this spacesuit.

Fortunately, the moon's gravity is lower than Earth's. On the moon, astronauts would only feel its weight of less than 20 kilograms.

Otherwise, they might have been crushed by the spacesuit before they could even carry out their mission.

After putting on the spacesuit and pressing the evacuation button, all the air in the cramped cabin was sucked out, creating a vacuum.

The hatch opened, and the desolate, lifeless lunar landscape was revealed to him for the first time.

(End of this chapter)