I ask you to build tractors, but you build rockets?

"The first batch of H2M large space shuttles, Pioneer and Glory, were manufactured at the Xinyuan Aerospace Power Company's production and research and development consortium, and the offline ceremony was held at 12 o'clock this morning."

"Guo Shen, the chief engineer of the H2M project, was interviewed on the ground at the Tiangong Space Station and said that the first H2M conventionally powered space shuttle Pioneer will complete its first unmanned flight this month and conduct a manned flight in December."

“This station has learned that many important members of the Aerospace Development Committee attended the offline ceremony of two large space shuttles and will nominate the main designers for the Science and Technology Innovation and Progress Award.

Serev, deputy chief engineer of the H2M project, said: The Pioneer and Glorious space shuttles are the seventh 100-ton space shuttles in the world, and they also mark that my country has become the third country after the Alliance and Aramco to have large-scale reusable spacecrafts.

The H2 series adopts revolutionary new technology. If the first generation was developed in the last century, and the current small space shuttle is the second generation, then what we have now is the third generation space shuttle technology, which is reusable. There are huge improvements in performance, economy, versatility and safety.

The completion of the trial production of Pioneer and Glory will strengthen the progress towards space..."

Late at night on November 9th, Beijing time, and at 11am on November 8th, Aramco time.

In high-level circles, word had spread everywhere that John had won the election, and Claire was no exception.

He watched the Central News broadcast on November 7th on YouTube. The impact of John being elected as the boss and H2M directly rolling off the first two aircraft made him a little sluggish.

Claire wanted to grab John by the collar and ask loudly: "How could you be elected? How could you be elected!"

If Diane comes up, she will probably keep the current situation unchanged and do whatever she needs to do, but John is a fickle master, and his thinking cannot be viewed from a conventional elite perspective.

More importantly, after John was forced to stop the party to sober up, he had to give a speech before tonight, and the Ares plan he boasted before the election was also included in the content, so he had already called Claire and asked NACA to give it. Interactive support.

Since the God of War Ares plan was proposed late, Claire did not attach too much importance to it. However, it was only then that she discovered that something terrible was going on. If the NACA was to be launched in 2024, it would be much more troublesome than imagined.

Just a rough estimate, the cost will be more than 200 billion U.S. dollars. This is the result of letting the Ares program inherit part of the Artemis program, such as using SLS block2 rockets to reduce the cost of new rockets.

Coupled with the investment in the Artemis program, hundreds of billions of dollars were spent in less than 10 years, which makes people’s scalp numb just thinking about it.

The key Ares project may not be a success. The current status of Aramco’s space program is indeed lagging behind, and it is necessary to regain face in other aspects.

The newly manufactured Pioneer and Glory have put their opponents a few steps ahead. This is eye candy!

Now NACA is still having a headache with SLS. The development time for the new storage tank was too short. Although it was manufactured, it was suspected of leaking. Claire has not had a day off for more than two months.

Just as he was about to take a break, the phone rang again.

This time it's not John's staff, but the future boss himself.

"Director Claire, I'm very busy right now and can't come to see you in person. I want to confirm something with you on the phone."

"You say."

Claire cheered up. He should still be the director of NACA for the next four years. He would have to answer the boss's questions.

John: "I want to know, in your opinion, how long will it take to send astronauts to Mars? How long will it take to establish a Mars colony?"

Claire: "There are a lot of variables, but if I were to plan the plan myself, I think it would be possible to launch a Mars spacecraft around 2030, and complete a manned landing on Mars before 2035. As for a permanent colony, it will take at least 10 years. time."

There was silence for a while on the other end of the phone. John was a little annoyed as to why he was talking big words and imitating Kennedy for an 8-year period.

Eight years is a long time for two consecutive terms, but who knows whether he can serve a second term? I don’t know, but in the context of the space race, I can’t pretend not to say anything.

John tentatively asked: "So, is there any way to launch a Mars spacecraft in 2020?"

John, who had already gained some knowledge about aerospace, already knew that a round trip to Mars with existing technology plus a mission cycle would take about two years, so he did not expect to see a Mars landing while he was in office. If the spacecraft could be launched, it would be considered a victory.

Claire: "..."

"Mr. Future Boss, I can only promise to launch unmanned exploration equipment before manned landing in 2020, find a suitable landing site, and make preliminary preparations.

The entire Mars landing plan must include at least one unmanned exploration and one unmanned resource preparation, that is, at least three large launch missions, and more small launch missions. It is also limited by the Mars window period. Launching once every two years is insurmountable. obstacles, unmanned resource launch in 2020 is the limit of what I can imagine.

Perhaps this time is still not enough. 2022 will be more sufficient, and it will take another four years to launch a manned spacecraft. "

Another four years? That's 2026?

This is unacceptable!

John didn't want to make a wedding dress for others. Besides, wouldn't the Apollo program be successful within 10 years? It's been half a century, isn't there any technological progress?

"Director Claire," John's voice became heavier: "What if I want to say that we must land on Mars in 2024 and ask you to come up with a plan immediately?"

Claire: "Then you also need to show the courage of the Apollo program, give NACA all support, including tax increases, a 70% tax on the rich, and make NACA's funding reach about 5% of the total federal budget."

There was no sound on the other end of the phone.

During the Apollo program, the federal government increased taxes crazily for fiscal purposes. Personal income taxes, corporate taxes, etc. were rising every year. Taxes were collected according to a ladder, reaching an astonishing 70% in the highest period!

Tax the rich and large businesses up to 70%!

Most of these tax rates are now stable below 20%, which means they will triple!

As for the proportion of NACA’s funding, it did reach 2% to 5% of the total federal budget during the Apollo program. You must know that that was the total expenditure of a superpower at that time, including education, people’s livelihood, and military, accounting for 5%. Almost everything is spent, which is why we need to keep raising taxes.

To do this, the external pressure must be strong enough and the boss is strong enough. The pressure is about the same now, but does John have the courage?

"I need to think about the Director who will call you later."

The phone was hung up, and Claire sighed, her body trembling slightly, not sure if it was because of excitement or fear, or both.