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

"Theoretically, we should stand like this, the floor should be the wall."

Meng Senlin "stands" on the bulkhead at the rear of the Storm's cockpit, facing the floor in the normal flight position, with the portholes and several other astronauts above his head.

Now, 260 minutes have passed since the Storm broke away from the space station.

The three engines were still accelerating. According to the flight computer data, they were temporarily shut down after about 40 minutes. Then the entire space shuttle turned around and began a nearly 13-hour deceleration process. At that time, the acceleration Meng Senlin suffered was completely reversed. .

Logically speaking, a manned spacecraft cannot allow astronauts to move freely during acceleration or deceleration.

But the Storm is in a special situation. Although it will set a world record for the fastest flight to the moon, it will not allow the astronauts to stay in the chair and go nowhere for 18 hours, and the acceleration is not very high.

When the Apollo spacecraft flies to the moon, it will also be continuously pulled and decelerated by the gravity of the earth. On average, it is almost 0.0347 meters per second. This is so small that it can almost be ignored, and the acceleration of the Storm is nearly ten times that. ——0.3 meters per second.

Meng Senlin experienced the 0.03G gravity through the task of observing the working conditions of the tail engine. It felt pretty good. After leaving the seat, his body really started to "fall", and his body also recovered a little bit like never before in space. An overwhelming feeling of falling.

It's very small, but it can already cause some reactions in the body. The gravitational acceleration of the moon is ten times higher than now.

"Lao Meng, then we don't have to turn on the vacuum machine when we go to the toilet. Why don't you try it now?"

Hu Dong's conjecture came over the radio, but it was immediately denied by Zhuang Dai, deputy commander of the Shuguang-4 mission.

"I don't think it works. The toilet is still installed on the floor, so the acceleration is backwards. Will it make a mess if I go there now?

If you want to experience the feeling without a vacuum machine, you have to use disposable poop bags. "

Meng Senlin: "..."

Hu Dong: "..."

Ground command center: "..."

The Storm, which has ample space, naturally does not skimp on the life support system. It is equipped with a pumpable sealed toilet, which can not only ensure the cleaning problem without gravity but also prevent the odor from dispersing. The only drawback is that the irregular vacuum suction force will make the toilet People have an indescribable and wonderful experience.

But this is the best compromise under the current circumstances. Furthermore, there is only the toilet on the Advance space station, which is almost the same as on earth, but you have to wait a long time before you can enjoy it.

Lin Ju, who was dozing in the command center, perked up when he heard the conversation in the sky. He quickly picked up his tablet and started writing a memo:

“Designing a variable-orientation toilet for the Storm.”

Shen Zuozhou, who was taking a peek: "..."

Meng Senlin and Zhuang Dai had a heated exchange about whether to use a toilet bag in order to experience gravity, but finally decided to give up to prevent the odor from lingering.

Then Meng Senlin confirmed that the air pressure in the cabin was stable and there was no air leakage, and carefully removed the helmet.

The moment the gap opened, the slight change in air pressure made his ears feel like pulling out earplugs. At the same time, the "buzzing" noise of the space shuttle, which was blocked by the active noise reduction of the space suit, could finally be heard.

When the engine is not turned on, only a small part of the equipment in the cabin can be heard inside the H2 space shuttle. Most of the mechanical noise is blocked by thick sound insulation cotton. As long as there is a little movement, you will not notice the cabin itself. the sound of.

The Storm was different. The reactors of the three A100 engines were running regardless of whether they were propelling or not. There was also an extremely regular low humming sound, which became more obvious the closer to the tail.

At this time, they, including the tail nozzles, were working at full capacity, and the other six people wore masks and made no sound. The only noise left in the cabin was this stronger and more powerful noise than usual.

Meng Senlin didn't find the sound uncomfortable. On the contrary, he liked the sound. It was like the huge lungs of Mongolian horses causing the chest to rise and fall when they were galloping, or the diesel locomotives he saw on the platform at dawn when he was a child. : Dull, but gives people a strong sense of power.

The three reactors brought the entire aircraft to life, and were producing a steady stream of wind that made the body vibrate slightly.

"Meng Senlin, Meng Senlin!"

Hu Dong yelled a few words on the radio but got no response. He turned around and saw him taking off his helmet and closing his eyes behind him in a daze. He pulled down his mask to wake him up.

Only then did Meng Senlin realize that the headset had somehow separated from the cochlea, and quickly put it back.

"We have ten minutes to prepare to taxi and turn around, come up!"

…

Hexagon.

It was here that Claire tracked the Storm with the Air Force, and the intelligence officer brought in the latest photo.

"This is a photo taken at Keyhole No. 12. It only took four minutes to print it out."

The "Keyhole" series are the military's ultra-high-precision reconnaissance satellites. Using them to track and photograph the Storm was very creative in Claire's opinion.

The photo has been exposed, and the stars on the background are all revealed. In the center is a light group that is slightly larger than an ordinary star, and is somewhat blurry because it has three overlapping bright spots.

The upper left corner of the photo shows the satellite number, time, and pixels, while the right side shows the speed and orientation data combined with the ground antenna array.

12.7 kilometers per second, 70,000 kilometers away from the earth, and an acceleration of about 0.3 meters per second.

It flew 70,000 kilometers in one and a half hours after leaving low-Earth orbit. This is the fastest speed humans have ever traveled to the moon, averaging 12 kilometers per second.

It is unknown whether it will be faster. The trajectory of the Storm is obviously different from that of a normal spacecraft. It has exceeded the speed of the second universe. In fact, it is correcting its direction at any time, and it can easily be lost.

For Claire, the biggest shock he received was not that the Storm escaped, but that the nuclear engine worked stably in space for nearly five hours. This was a dimensionality-reducing blow to all traditional power sources.

Both SLS and Starship are far behind. There has never been a manned space vehicle that can accelerate for such a long time and fly such a long distance.

Claire was stunned for a long time until John called the hotline.

"Bird, how's the situation?"

Claire: "I still believe that the Storm has no intention of landing on the moon. The specific time it will take to reach the moon is unknown, but if it is based on its current acceleration capabilities, it may arrive within 15 hours."

John: “Does it have to be the moon?”

Claire: "Definitely."

A few words like "It's not the moon landing" came vaguely from the other end of the phone, and then John's voice became slightly louder:

"The Aerospace Development Commission has just admitted that this is a planned flight around the moon. This news has been announced to the media. Do you understand that it has been announced? The Senate will hold a hearing soon, and you must attend."

Claire: "(Take a deep breath) Your Excellency, I hope to be able to serve at least until the end of the Artemis project. It is better not to let Jim or Wallace take over, otherwise it will be very disadvantageous."

John: "No, they won't let you resign yet, but NACA must take action."