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

"Data processing in progress... Looks like we've hit the bullseye. Shouldn't we leave a famous quote for the history books?"

"No, I don't think anyone will record this Mars exploration mission's communications verbatim in history."

"Tell me, isn't that exactly what happened? You think we won't even have a celebration parade when we get back?"

"You know what I mean. Welcome to Mars."

……

Sheng Tianhong, Song Xingye, and Mira successfully reunited with the three crew members of the second dispatch team on the surface of Mars.

Looking through the porthole, all I could see was a thin mist of sandstorm, a mixture of yellow and pink.

As the fog gradually dissipated, the Felicedorsa Ridge Plain revealed its true form from the haze.

At first it appeared blurry and colorless, but as the dust kicked up by the landing settled, the surrounding scenery became clear.

Sheng Tianhong gazed into the distance, where he saw stretches of sand dunes rising and falling gently under a pale brown sky.

He wanted to cry, laugh, and even let out a deafening cheer.

However, he did not show any of these emotions.

As the commander of the mission, he had to remain calm.

His decades-long career as an astronaut taught him that even a hint of emotion during a moment like landing on Mars could lead to him being labeled as "emotional" or "unreliable" in the future.

Therefore, he chose to remain silent.

Sheng Tianhong is the most senior member of the crew and has the most extensive space experience.

He was thin with firm muscles, and his gray hair lay flat against his scalp.

The passage of time has made him more composed, focusing intently on the task at hand.

But his gaze would constantly sweep across the cabin, scrutinizing it from top to bottom, afraid of missing any oversight that might pose a fatal threat.

With the mission imminent, as the commander, the other five crew members were counting on him to lead them safely to their destination and return home alive. He had to act immediately.

The crew is busy completing the post-landing cleanup, shutting down the flight systems, activating the ground operations systems, and making final checks to ensure all parameters meet the standards.

He knew everyone wanted to put down their work and squeeze to the porthole for a peek, but even Sergei Petrov was too busy to do anything else, so he was the only one there.

Looking southeast, the short, stout silhouette of the Darwin can be clearly seen through the remaining pink mist.

He held in his hand an observation instrument consisting of a flat rectangular screen, about the size of a paperback book.

Its design ensures that it can be used normally whether or not a spacesuit or helmet is worn. He held the screen up to his eyes, and the built-in computer immediately adjusted the focus to match his line of sight, presenting an image that looked like looking at a magnified Martian landscape through a window.

As Sasha Popov said, they landed with extreme precision, with the Darwin less than half a kilometer away.

This is crucial for them; this fully fueled return-class probe is the same spacecraft that landed on Mars six and a half years ago.

He carefully observed the probe and examined the terrain between the Xihe landing site and the returning spacecraft.

Over millions of years, wind erosion has sculpted this sandy land into undulating dunes and ripples.

Scattered among them are rocks of all shapes and sizes, some as huge as boulders, half-buried under the sand, but they do not seem to hinder their passage.

Everything was perfect.

He shifted his gaze from the porthole to the co-pilot's control panel. The cabin floor was noticeably tilted, indicating that the lander was clearly parked on a slope, and he had to move carefully to avoid falling.

He carefully reviewed the sequence of images taken during the landing process, including optical images and radar mapping, and combined them into a topographic map.

After confirming once again that there were no fatal obstacles on the route, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

When he stood up, he saw Sergei, Mira, and Sasha crowding in front of the porthole, scrambling to adjust their view so they could catch a glimpse of Mars.

He smiled slightly; they must have been hoping he would leave that position a long time ago.

"Why look through the window when we can actually go out and see the world?" he said. "Guys, get dressed and ready, it's time to get to work. Hurry up, we're heading home in six weeks, and our schedules are packed before we leave."

The lander remained stationary at a significant angle, causing the folding ladder to tilt and unfold as well.

Climbing down wasn't too difficult, but gracefully stepping onto the Martian surface was quite a challenge.

"Who cares!" Sheng Tianhong thought to himself, and took a leap, but lost his balance and landed heavily on the dusty ground.

As the commander of the mission, he must offer a few classic quotes to all of humanity watching the live broadcast, just like Armstrong did.

He had memorized these lines by heart. Those lines that sounded like improvisations were actually written and polished repeatedly by the public relations team.

"We are taking this step for all mankind. In the name of all the peoples of the earth, with the spirit of scientific exploration and the unwavering courage of humankind, we have come to Mars and brought a call for peace to all mankind."

Sheng Tianhong slowly stood up and stepped onto the Martian red sand.

At this moment, the high-definition camera outside the lander is transmitting this scene back to Earth in real time.

He then uttered the next classic line from the Mars exploration mission: "My God, I still can't believe I'm actually here!"

The sandy surface is covered with a hard crust, which makes a "crunching" sound when you step on it, just like stepping on a frozen river.

Beneath this hard shell, the soil has a texture like compacted flour.

With each step, rusty dust rose from the soles of the feet like bubbles.

In less than a minute, his boots and the lower half of his spacesuit looked as if they had been sprayed with a layer of ochre paint.

He felt light all over. During the long seven-month journey, the spacecraft maintained a gravity equivalent to half that of Earth through a tethering system, while the gravity on Mars was obviously much lighter.

Despite enduring eighteen months of extreme training in the simulation chamber on Earth, he still felt as if he were being lifted up by an invisible buoyancy.

As he expected, the "Xihe" landed on a slope of a small ridge and was now stopped at a startlingly sharp angle.

Fortunately, this spacecraft was not responsible for the return takeoff.

Therefore, within the next 24 hours, they will be able to move out of the cramped Xihe and into the inflatable habitat that landed with the Darwin.

Behind him, Mira leaped down the gangway.

She landed lightly with a bounce, then leaped into the air again, raising her arms high above her head as if paying homage to the sun.

"Oh, isn't that spectacular? It's absolutely spectacular!"

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Sheng Tianhong reluctantly admitted to himself that this exclamation was much better than his dry, uninspired line just now.

Han Jing followed closely behind and climbed down the ladder.

"My God!" he exclaimed, "That jump was really close."

He looked around and gasped, "My God, this is absolutely spectacular!"

Sasha, on the other hand, leaped down lightly and silently completed this difficult landing maneuver.

After he steadied himself, he slowly turned around and silently surveyed his surroundings.

The other two crew members, Song Xingye and Sergei, remain in the landing module for the time being. They will take turns exiting the module and setting foot on this alien land after Mira, Han Jing, and Sasha return.

This is exactly what Sheng Tianhong has always dreamed of, the ultimate goal he has strived for, worked for, and even lived for to this day.

Rusty mountain ridges, solitary peaks faintly visible in the cinnamon-colored mist on the horizon, and the "Darwin" spacecraft—the ticket that would take them back to Earth—wait just a fifteen-minute walk away.

He had seen these scenes hundreds and thousands of times in his dreams.

But why did he suddenly feel a strong sense of loss and depression?

Sheng Tianhong has never been good at analyzing her own emotions.

In the astronaut team, self-reflection has never been a quality to be encouraged. Rumor has it that the main job of those psychologists and psychiatrists is to remove the "weak links" from the list.

"Focus on the task, get the job done, and don't complain"—this is the motto that Sheng Tianhong and his teammates have followed for many years.

However, at this moment, his future suddenly turned bleak. Even the remaining six weeks of Mars expedition and the long return journey, including the flyby of Venus and gravity boost, seemed like a very boring trip to him.

For a long time, he devoted all his energy to "getting to Mars" and never set any goals for his future life.

He had already reached the goal he was familiar with, and faced with the unknown ahead, he felt unprecedented confusion.

A man's pursuits should exceed what he is capable of. He smiled bitterly to himself. He had already achieved his lifelong dream. What should he do next?

……

Meanwhile, inside the landing module, Sergei was pressed against the porthole, his eyes fixed on the surface of Mars.

He scanned the land with great excitement, trying to find some clues, though he himself didn't know what he was looking for.

Perhaps it's the remains of aliens? Dinosaur footprints? Or maybe fossilized ferns left on a rock? Reason tells him that these things could never exist on Mars.

But on the other hand, if no one deliberately looks for them, they will never be discovered even if they are right under your nose.

However, his attention was not actually searching for anything specific; he was simply mesmerized by the Martian landscape before him.

After being confined in the cramped space capsule for seven months, the feeling of finally being able to look out into the truly vast distance is incredibly liberating.

The background noise could be heard from the radio communications of the astronauts outside the spacecraft.

"The surface particles are even finer than expected." It sounded like Captain Sheng Tianhong's voice. "It seems that some kind of salt has bound the soil particles together. Although the anti-slip treads on the boot soles have been filled with mud, the grip is still quite good."

This is absolutely Sheng Tianhong's style of doing things; no one is as meticulous about details as he is.

Sergei ignored these communications. Communications officer Song Xingye had previously said that even if an accident occurred, although the probability was extremely low, they were fully capable of handling it.

We've finally arrived on Mars.

Sergei watched Mira gracefully dancing on the surface of Mars through the glass, feeling a pang of envy.

He couldn't wait to set foot on that red land, but he could only wait for his turn to be rotated, which was too torturous.

Young Sergei didn't even know how to write the word "patience".

This is absolutely unfair.

After about an hour, the airlock door slowly opened, accompanied by the muffled "gurgling" sound of the air pump.

Sergei had been waiting impatiently inside for a long time, and Sasha's helmeted face came into view.

A light layer of silver dust clung to his spacesuit, and when he removed his helmet, a unique scent, like metallic champagne bubbles, wafted past Sergei's nose.

Sasha was also carrying about ten freshly collected rock specimens in her arms.

"I bet you were frantic, weren't you?" Sasha laughed. "That's why I came back early, to give you the chance."

"Thanks, Sasha," Sergei said gratefully. "I owe you one. How's it going out there?"

Throughout the long journey, Sasha remained his best friend, thanks to the simple kindness of this older brother.

Other senior crew members either ignored him or coldly issued instructions.

"Oh, you have no idea how great it feels to be able to stretch your muscles outdoors again," Sasha exclaimed. "Go out there and experience it for yourself."

"The usual procedure," Sergei said, suppressing his excitement, "can you do a pre-exit check for me?"

This tedious procedure was something Captain Sheng Tianhong had painstakingly instilled into their minds during hundreds of ground drills.

No one may leave the spacecraft before the spacesuit inspection is completed, and another person must check each item on the checklist without exception.

For Sergei, this seemed somewhat overly cautious. After all, who would be foolish enough to skip such a crucial step as checking the spacesuit? That wasn't carelessness; that was suicide.

But whenever he showed even the slightest hint of disapproval, Sheng Tianhong would stare at him with the kind of look one gives a little kid, and then begin to rattle off those long, tedious lessons about space: for example, how some unlucky guy almost lost his life because he skipped the checklist and short-circuited the hatch's safety lock.

Sergei didn't actually dislike hearing these thrilling stories, and he secretly vowed never to touch any safety locks. However, if these stories were merely meant to instill the simplistic and crude message of "be careful," they could become tiresome after a while.

At that moment, as Sasha surrounded him with the checklist, conducting various examinations, Sergei's mind had already wandered, filled with only one thought: "Mars, I've finally arrived. Mars, I've finally arrived. Mars, I've finally..."

Standing at the top of the exit ladder, he stopped in his tracks, his gaze sweeping greedily over the surface of Mars.

Although I have experienced VR simulations countless times, the real tactile sensation is completely different.

What surprised him most was the brightness of the sunlight. Mars is so far from the sun, he had thought it would be dark and bleak, but the surface was as bright as an afternoon on Earth. The helmet's smart visor sensed the strong light and automatically lowered to block some of the glaring rays from him.

He couldn't wait to unleash his energy.