Reborn in 2011, I am the chief designer of aerospace.

With a tap of the fingertip, one is instantly transported to the wonderful world of Chapter 128, "Humans Were Here."

Song Xingye slowly looked around, taking in the magnificent panoramic view of the Mangala Valley.

"The crater we're in sits on a rocky surface. The scattered rocks around us range in size from half a yard to two yards, their surfaces covered with bubble-like depressions. These depressions suggest they are likely fragments left behind after lava cooled and solidified, while the bubbles were formed when gases escaped from the lava, perhaps dissipating into space a billion years ago. The rock surface is covered with uniform pits and grooves, presumably caused by long-term wind erosion."

I also noticed some tiny, pebble-like structures, but I'm pretty sure they're just fragments of the weathered crust, products of accumulated surface debris. Unlike sand on Earth, the particles here are much finer, some less than a micrometer in diameter. Undoubtedly, this dust is the result of rocks weathering over countless years, with significant oxidation giving the rocks their characteristic deep reddish-brown color typical of montmorillonite clay…”

"I can clearly see that geological activity is still shaping this landscape. The traces of wind erosion on the surface are very obvious. The original landscape has been eroded, and the dust underfoot has undoubtedly been blown in from all over Mars. From a geological point of view, this place records a series of events as clearly as an almanac: meteorite impacts, weathering and erosion, volcanic activity, possible ancient floods, and the formation of surface ice."

"The moon is an ancient and desolate world. We originally thought its story ended a billion years ago or even longer. But standing here now, I truly feel that Mars, like Earth, is still evolving and is still a 'living' planet."

A long silence fell over the radio channel.

"Song Xingye," Sheng Tianhong asked softly, "Are you alright?"

"It's alright, yes, I'm fine, Sheng Tianhong."

He felt his words dissipating in space, spreading towards Earth and even into the deeper universe. At that moment, he wished he could take those words back.

Such a description is far from sufficient; no amount of vocabulary can fully capture the awe-inspiring power of this place.

However, I think this is probably the limit of what I can do.

Now, it's time to take that step.

He said into the microphone, "I'm getting off the footpad now."

He gripped the gangway tightly with his right hand and leaned his body to the left.

The left space boot gently lifted from the edge of the insole, protruding outwards, and then, silently and cautiously, slowly stepped into the Martian dust.

The channel was completely silent.

Sheng Tianhong, Mira, and everyone on distant Earth held their breath.

It was as if the entire universe was watching him, gazing at this tangible moment.

He tentatively shifted his weight, and under the slight influence of gravity, his left foot lightly touched the ground.

The Martian soil was very firm, supporting his weight steadily, just as he had expected.

At this moment, one of his feet was on the bulky man-made spaceship, while the other foot was firmly planted on the Martian ground.

His gaze swept across the empty Martian surface, the curved edge of his helmet visor taking in the boundless wasteland.

Soft light flowed across his nose and cheeks, illuminating his human flesh and blood body, where he stood truly and undeniably on this red planet.

Using the gangway for support, he moved his right foot down the steps as well.

Then, carefully loosen your hands.

Now, he stands completely free on Mars.

He took a step forward, and then another.

The space boots left footprints in the sand, and the tread pattern on the soles was clearly visible.

He suddenly felt an urge to take off his clothes, walk barefoot on the beach, and feel the softness of the sand.

The spacesuit is comfortable and warm inside.

He could hear the 20,000 RPM fan running inside the life support backpack.

Through the mask, he had a 180-degree field of vision and did not feel any stuffiness.

He took a few more steps forward.

He leaped effortlessly across the Martian surface, where the feeling of walking was somewhere between normal walking and weightlessness.

His movement encountered no obstacles; in fact, it was much easier than wearing a simulator on Earth.

However, the weight of the equipment he was carrying kept him constantly on edge, and he had to lean forward slightly to maintain his balance.

Because his knees are difficult to bend, he relies almost entirely on his ankles and toes for power, and he feels that his legs will tire quickly.

However, his nimble toes were quite strong, gripping the ground firmly as he trudged through the Martian dust.

For some reason, this thought made this magnificent moment seem somewhat insignificant.

Its outline was somewhat blurred in the sunlight, and its six landing legs steadily supported the hull.

The spacecraft's dark side remained hidden in shadow, the surrounding light resembling twilight, and the Challenger's hull was softly enveloped.

A beam of light shone out from the open hatch, encircling Sheng Tianhong inside.

The pervasive red color in the field of vision all originates from dust that is constantly suspended in the air.

He knew very well that the dust concentration here was at least ten times that of the worst smog days in Jingzhou, and on Mars, there would never be a heavy rain to wash it all away.

He left the Challenger, traveled westward along its shadow, and eventually stepped into the sunlight.

On the rocky surface in front of him, the shadow of the military engineering project resembled a sharp cone.

He passed through the edge of the shadows and finally entered the light.

He turned around.

Sunlight shone on his face, reflecting off the surface of his helmet.

This is a sunrise on Mars. Even the sky here is different; the dust scatters light in a different way...

The sun rose above the clearly defined outline of the Challenger spacecraft, surrounded by an oval-shaped patch of yellow light that seemed surreal against the brownish sky.

The sun appears small in size and dim in brightness, appearing to be only about two-thirds its normal size when viewed from Earth.

He couldn't help but shiver. Although he knew his body temperature wouldn't change, the shrinking sun and the pitch-black sky made Mars seem exceptionally cold and distant.

He turned around and let the camera pan across the entire landscape.

The Martian dust was slippery and sticky on the soles of my boots.

He drifted further and further away from the Challenger, his footprints extending into the nearby regolith.

The radio communication that connected him to Earth was weakening as the distance increased, and it may have already been cut off, leaving him all alone on this desolate Martian plain.

As the light gradually increased, he discovered that the land was not as flat as he had imagined, with protruding rocks visible everywhere in the shadows.

To the west, he spotted a low sand dune.

But these dunes are more irregularly shaped than dunes on Earth, which he speculates is due to the small size of the surface particles. In fact, these dunes are more like floating objects in dust.

He looked westward and saw a shadow on the sand, which seemed to be a shallow ridge with its back to him.

He walked forward, getting further and further away from MEM.

After walking about fifty meters, he finally reached the ridge.

It turns out that this is the edge of a small meteorite crater, with a distinct outline and a diameter of about several tens of meters, deeply embedded in one side of the ground.

However, the rock walls of the crater have been worn away, and behind it is a teardrop-shaped mound.

That mound is likely a remnant of erosion and sandstorms, and its shape is similar to the remains found in braided streams on land.

He felt that he could observe some stratification on both sides of the residual hill, since it was exactly the same as the characteristics of crusted land.

He moved clumsily into the depths of the crater, his legs tired, dust swirling around him, sticking to his legs and his hum.

His helmet began to fog up, his breathing became rapid, and his body leaned forward involuntarily.

On the leeward side of the crater rim, something was shimmering, finally dispelling Armstrong and Moordoon's past and making him feel that this journey had come to a perfect end.

He thought, "I've finally stepped into this scene."

It was a frosty day.

He leaned to the side, awkwardly bending down to touch the bottom of the crater.

His finger traced a groove in the dust, easily cutting through the ground and leaving a sharp trench.

At this moment, he was like a child digging in the mud on the beach, which turned out to be a beach covering the entire planet.

Wherever he dug, he found the same soft, powdery surface, the same sticky texture, and those gravel pieces that looked like pebbles.

He held the glove up to his face to examine the layer of dust closely, but felt a strange sense of frustration.

This weathered layer was unusually light, so light that he could hardly feel its weight.

And because the bulky protective suit was too heavy, he couldn't even feel the texture of the soil.

The intense sunlight from the sunrise through the glass helmet made it difficult for him to see clearly, while the hum of the oxygen pump and the hiss of the radio isolated him from the faint sounds carried by the Martian wind.

He felt a sense of unreality, a sense of isolation.

Although he was in this location, he was still isolated from Mars, making it seem like a field investigation at all.

He pinched the sample with his fingers, and the small "pebbles" immediately burst and shattered. It turned out that it was just a hard shell fragment similar to a pebble.

He flicked his wrist, sending the crushed dust flying again. Most of the dust stuck to the palm of his glove, giving it a rusty brown color.

He took the diamond marker pen from the sample bag of his spacesuit.

Holding the small coin in my hand, the sunlight refracted against the ochre background of Mars, transforming into patches of dazzling ruby ​​red.

He suddenly felt a surge of pride welling up inside him.

He despised patriotism, and perhaps this expedition, these brief days of climbing the Martian surface like rabbits, was ultimately just the absurd act of technocrats.

If a catastrophe were to wipe out all life on Earth before humanity returns to the moon, this miniature flag-bearing symbol would still stand, bearing witness to humanity's glorious achievements. Together with the wreckage of the Challenger and the three lunar module landing phases on the lunar surface, it would commemorate this chapter of human history.

Think about how we almost didn't make it here, think about how we almost shut down our space program after Apollo.

He carefully placed the marker down, letting it slowly sink into the pit he had dug under the influence of a tiny amount of gravity. At that moment, it was shining brightly, lying quietly at the bottom of the crater.

Then, he silently reached into his pocket and laboriously pulled out a small silver brooch.

The design of this pin is quite tacky; it depicts a shooting star taking off with a long, comet-like tail.

For all of humanity.

He dropped the pin into the ditch, right behind the diamond mark.

Then he kicked up some dust and rubbed it on the ground.

Armstrong's footprints on the moon are still clearly visible, and these marks will remain for millions of years until they are eventually erased by micrometeorites. The situation on Mars is quite different; his footprints, though they might last for months or even years, will eventually be covered by Martian dust and sand.

In a few years, his footprints will be blown away by the wind, and the small pit he dug at the beginning may be almost nowhere to be found.

Song Xingye...

He realized he hadn't said anything.

He turned toward the Challenger.

The short, stout, white-painted humanoid device appeared very small due to the distance, and the sky shimmered behind it in the sunlight.

He could still see the pearl gray hatch in the center of the Memory Enhancement Module (MEM), and the cylindrical ascent section was faintly visible above it, with propellant tanks clustered like berries on the slender column.

A series of crisp footsteps came from the Challenger, treading across the gravelly crust, reaching the spot where it was standing, and passing over the dust kicked up by the lunar rover's landing rocket.

Those footsteps were like footprints appearing on a beach after the tide has receded, but at this moment they were the only sounds that could be found on this planet.

"Oh my god," he thought, "we've finally arrived."

We went to the wrong place and used the wrong methods at first, but we've finally arrived, and that's the most important thing.

We found soil, sunlight, air, and water.

He said, "We succeeded."

……

Two weeks later, the Xihe spacecraft quietly approached Mars.

Compared to the earlier advance team, one end of this spaceship is the living quarters, a short, stout cylinder sitting on a heat shield.

It is tightly connected to the main rocket engine and the now-empty fuel tank by a long, ultra-fine fiber rope. This almost invisible ultra-fine rope slowly rotates the spacecraft and the fuel tank around the center of the rope.

armband separation

The traction device is ready to be separated.

"navigation?"

Navigation is disabled.

System status?

The system is ready.

Mars appeared intermittently in the sky, shaped like a crescent moon, its surface covered with craters, and clouds that veiled it like a thin veil.

Check the engine preheating status at the terminal.

TDE preheating.

Check the parachute deployment preheater.

PD preheating is on.

The flames blazed like torches, and ropes were already tied around their bodies. Three, two, one, now.

The spaceship suddenly shook violently, its tether snapped abruptly, and it convulsed backward like an enraged serpent. The engines, solar panels, and fuel tanks slowly moved away, disappearing into the distance. They would miss Mars and continue their journey along endless interstellar paths.

Umbilical cord separation has been confirmed. The spacecraft is ready.

"What's your stance?"

We are analyzing the data. The situation is currently good.

Instrument inspection.

The equipment is green.

Everything is green. We are making good progress.

"Alright, everyone, fasten your seatbelts. We're about to begin."

The spacecraft burned as it traveled through the Martian atmosphere, leaving a trail of fire in the pink sky.

Parachutes opened one after another, first the first, then the second, and then the third; in the deathly silent sky, golden petals fell like rain.