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

The scorer immediately stopped the stopwatch and stared at the time with some surprise.

He then came over and checked the solder joints and surrounding cables, and after recording the findings in the form, he nodded.

Song Xingye then turned and left. Jiang Mian, who was behind him in line, was still gesturing in the air, practicing her technique. She was startled when she saw him return.

"Why is it over so quickly? Was it really 20 minutes?"

Song Xingye shook his head. "I don't know. Anyway, it's your turn to go to the execution ground next."

After saying that, he winked and walked away leisurely with his hands behind his back.

After a morning of practice, all students had completed their practical assessments.

The temporary scorers handed the summary sheet to Li Ang and then left.

Li Ang put away the form and glanced at everyone:

"Alright, that concludes the second round of assessments. I will announce the results at a later date. Everyone, go to the cafeteria for lunch. We'll meet back here at 1 PM. After lunch, you can take a stroll, just avoid the classified areas..."

After explaining the precautions, the students dispersed.

Song Xingye and Chang Jian went to the assembly plant's canteen together, and Chang Jian also invited his roommates Cao Que, Guo Yanyang, Tao Shuo, and Fan Xiaoying over.

This was the first time the six of them had gathered at the same table for a meal, and Chang Jian, being the social butterfly, naturally did his best to create a lively atmosphere.

Everyone tacitly kept quiet about the morning's assessment and instead chatted about their daily lives.

Cao Que shared some of his experiences during his internship at the European Space Agency while pursuing a joint degree at the University of Birmingham:

"Country A's space shuttle is about to be retired, and the European Space Agency and NASA are now in a real hurry, haha."

As he spoke, Cao Que took a big bite of the soft, snow-white "space bun" in his hand, chewing it with relish: "These Westerners have really shot themselves in the foot. Did they think they could sanction us by imposing the Wolf Clause? They're probably kicking themselves now!"

Upon hearing this, Tao Shuo from Northwestern Polytechnical University immediately asked, "What do you mean by that?"

At this moment, Guo Yanyang from Beihang University scratched his chin slightly and pondered, "I guess it's related to the International Space Station?"

"Bingo!"

Cao Que snapped his fingers and said with a grin, "That's right! What do you guys think Country A will do to get to the International Space Station after the Atlantis space shuttle is decommissioned?"

Chang Jian understood and gloated, "That's right. Given the current state of A country's aerospace industry, apart from the space shuttle, there are no other spacecraft that are actually useful. They can only stare helplessly."

Fan Xiaoying from Harbin Institute of Technology chimed in: "But I remember NASA started bidding a few years ago to find a replacement for the Space Shuttle, right? Companies like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and the upstart SpaceX all received orders and received billions of dollars in upfront funding."

Upon hearing this, Chang Jian scoffed and sneered, "Boeing and Lockheed, those two bloodsuckers? They definitely won't be able to build a spaceship unless they drain NASA dry!"

He nudged Song Xingye, who was drinking porridge, and asked, "Right, Xingye, what do you think?"

Song Xingye took a few sips of the cornmeal porridge and slowly echoed:

"Boeing and Lockheed are indeed not worth entrusting your business to. The monopoly of these two aerospace companies is arguably the two biggest failures for Country A in the commercial space industry. Hiring them to build spacecraft is like throwing good money after bad; it's estimated that there won't be any results for several years."

Fan Xiaoying added, "But Country A's commercial space exploration is at least 20 years ahead of ours, and there are still quite a few outstanding emerging companies. SpaceX and Blue Origin are both good, and the owners behind these two companies are also quite powerful. They should be able to compete with Boeing and Lockheed Martin, right?"

"SpaceX is alright, but Blue Origin is a no-go," Song Xingye commented.

"In terms of development speed, Musk and Bezos founded their companies around the same time, but it's already 2011. Musk has created the Falcon 9, while Bezos can't even build a proper launch vehicle, let alone a spacecraft."

If my memory serves me right, it took Berlusconi a full 25 years to finally launch the first carrier rocket into Earth orbit, right?

By the time he builds the spaceship, the people of East Asia on the other side of the ocean will probably already be growing vegetables on the far side of the moon.

Upon hearing this, Guo Yanyang said, "It seems that NASA really has no hope in Country A. So what are their plans?"

All eyes turned to Cao Que.

Cao Que cleared his throat and said, "Well... I only heard this from the European Space Agency, so the information might not be accurate. I heard that NASA is planning to ask the Russians for help to launch a flight from R country to the International Space Station."

"Seeking cooperation with Country R?"

Chang Jian curled his lip. "Did the NASA director eat too many hamburgers and clog his brain with fat? Country A and Country R have always been at odds, guarding against each other like thieves. Would they really agree to cooperate?"

"Circumstances are beyond our control," Cao Que said, spreading his hands.

"Besides, there's an old saying: there are no permanent enemies, only permanent interests. As long as the benefits are right, the Russians will do any kind of business."

Song Xingye wholeheartedly agreed with this statement.

As far as I can remember, there seems to be nothing the Russians wouldn't dare to sell, since it's all their accumulated wealth.

Cao Que continued, "Looking at the entire globe, there are currently only two types of operational, manned spacecraft. There's no third. Therefore, Country A only has two choices: ① and ②!"

Guo Yanyang said in a deep voice: "The Russian Soyuz and the Eastern Shenzhou."

Chang Jian slapped his thigh: "That's right, why didn't they come to us? They even came up with this 'Wolf Clause' to disgust people; they've completely blocked another way out!"

Cao Que rolled his eyes at him: "Do you think NASA is stupid? Since they dared to include that clause, they're prepared to never have anything to do with us again. Besides, although the Shenzhou spacecraft can go into space, it can't go to the International Space Station."

Tao Shuo asked curiously, "Why?"

"Inconsistent interface standards".

Guo Yanyang reacted quickly, analyzing, "Back then, we applied to join the International Space Station with a low profile, but we were kicked out by the A-team."

Therefore, we don't have the interface parameters for the International Space Station's node modules, and Shenzhou is custom-designed for our own future space station, so even if we flew there, we wouldn't be able to dock.

Cao Que nodded. "So NASA has sown its own seeds of karma, which has caused the European Space Agency to suffer the consequences as well. They have no choice but to bite the bullet and ask the Russians if they can use the Soyuz spacecraft to send astronauts up there."

Chang Jian was still annoyed: "So the Russians just made peace like that? Slavs are pretty vengeful, aren't they?"

"Hehe, of course it's not that easy."

Cao Que then said, "I heard that the Russians have placed astronomical orders with NASA and the European Space Agency for Soyuz spacecraft, starting at seventy million US dollars per seat!"

"How much? Seventy million US dollars per seat?"

Chang Jian's mind went blank after hearing that; he couldn't even count how many zeros were involved. "Do they really think NASA and the European Space Agency are easy targets?"

Tao Shuo calculated, "At this price, assuming each team going to the International Space Station consists of only three people, and they rotate every quarter, it would cost 8.4 million US dollars a year..."

"No, no, no, don't forget about supply transport!"

Fan Xiaoying added gleefully, "Don't they eat and drink in space? And going to the space station isn't for vacation; it's for conducting various experiments, and equipment needs to be transported, right? So I think this expense should be multiplied by at least three."

Chang Jian did the math and exclaimed in amazement, "Good heavens, that's $25 billion in annual expenditure! That's over 160 billion RMB! NASA and the European Space Agency actually accepted that?"

160 billion Hong Kong dollars was an astonishing sum in 2011.

Song Xingye chuckled inwardly, even imagining how the NASA administrator, in front of the old men on Capitol Hill, would spout off and fabricate stories to secure this bribe.

Just to send a few people into space, 16 billion dollars are burned every year; a gram of their weight is more precious than gold.

Cao Que sighed: "As far as I know, the European Space Agency has already reluctantly accepted it. There's nothing they can do. If you're so capable, why don't you build your own spaceship? Asking for help means you'll get ripped off."

Even if there really is a spaceship… I've heard that NASA's most powerful Atlas rocket currently in service still uses Russian engines, so they're still being held hostage and won't dare to turn against them anytime soon.

This delightful piece of gossip instantly lifted the spirits of the six roommates, and the atmosphere became less tense than before.

Cao Que excitedly concluded, "In short, in this small corner of space, the Russians have finally gotten their revenge and given NASA a good thrashing!"