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

After ending the call with Sun Liancheng, Mi Nan was so angry she felt like she was about to jump around in mid-air.

In the literal sense.

In a microgravity environment of 0.1G, as long as she doesn't consciously control her posture, she can easily bump into things all over the corridor, and she clearly has no interest in doing so now.

Although she didn't punch the wall in her rage, her destructive urge was greatly satisfied. The empty corridor was deserted, with only the dull hum of her crashing against the bulkhead echoing in the background.

She stumbled into the cafeteria and bumped into a burly man. Like characters in an American cartoon, they were bounced apart in a low parabolic arc, their magnetic boots slipping off the deck.

A lidded, anti-gravity coffee cup slipped from my hand and leisurely traced a smooth trajectory in mid-air.

"Uh... are you alright?" Song Xingye looked at her. "You look terrible."

"I'm perfectly fine. I'm just about to be kicked out, that's all," Mi Nan said irritably.

"Because of yesterday's accident? This... I really didn't expect the consequences to be so serious."

"No, it's because I just told Sun Liancheng to 'fuck it'."

Song Xingye stared blankly for a full two seconds before suddenly bursting into laughter.

"You want Sun Liancheng to go to hell? I love this script so much."

Mi Nan felt her face rapidly heating up.

Song Xingye quickly raised his hands in surrender: "Hey, don't misunderstand, I'm definitely not mocking you. Well done! I really wish I could see his expression back then. Do you want to grab a cup, sit down, and tell me the details?"

As he spoke, he couldn't help but laugh again, his laughter extremely infectious.

Mi Nan found herself unconsciously raising the corners of her mouth. Whatever, as soon as she left, the observation station would be in complete chaos. To hell with the secrecy regulations, it was simply impossible to keep them.

"Sure, why not?"

Song Xingye floated over from the other end of the cabin and retrieved the coffee cup. The two of them moved lightly to a fixed table and sat down. After fastening their seat belts, Mi Nan held the cup with both hands, feeling the warmth from the cup and taking a deep breath of the rich aroma.

Her tense shoulders gradually relaxed, and she finally managed a fairly genuine smile: "Actually... yesterday's video wasn't so bad, I mean in terms of technical diagnostics, not the kind that was broadcast on the news channel."

"What do you mean by 'not bad'?" Song Xingye raised an eyebrow. "Let me tell you, Mi Nan, that scene was practically perfect."

……

Sheng Long slumped lazily into his armchair, took a sip of his morning tea, and gazed at the huge screen that covered the entire wall, which was simulating the elegant arc of the Earth's horizon.

He couldn't help but sigh. Since moving into this single cabin, he had completely said goodbye to the real wonders of the universe outside the living room porthole.

In order to implement the spacecraft's weight reduction plan, the engineering team carried out a major restructuring of the living modules. In order to squeeze out the utilization rate of every inch of space, the original 100-meter-long cabin was compressed to 70 meters.

Compared to the eye-catching and hardcore modifications to the power compartment, the compression of the living area, while lacking visual impact, effectively reduced the spacecraft's net weight by 12% by removing redundant living facilities.

This percentage may sound unremarkable, but it significantly reduced the load requirements of the power system, thermal control equipment, and reactor cooling water, ultimately causing the total mass of the ship to drop by a full 100 tons.

On the balance, sacrificing a real porthole doesn't seem like an unacceptable price to pay, especially since his new home is equipped with a top-of-the-line high-resolution 3D screen that takes up an entire wall, boasting truly luxurious technical specifications.

Unfortunately, Shenglong always felt that it lacked a sense of realism. It's like the top-of-the-line Hi-Fi sound system in the cabin; no matter how lossless and high-fidelity the recording is, it can never compare to the emotional impact of a live performance.

As early as the end of January, Shenglong spent two weeks safely evacuating the vast majority of its crew to the ground. Once the non-core personnel were cleared out, the construction team worked tirelessly to weld temporary isolation bulkheads three meters from the front of each compartment.

They removed all furniture and furnishings within a 30-meter radius of the front end and pumped the displaced air back into the space station's spare gas tanks.

Next, the support column rises from the ground between the central axis and the module shell behind the cutting line. In the final disengagement preparation stage, the lifting shaft at the front of each module is precisely cut off and moved to a safe distance.

Thanks to the high level of preparedness of all staff, the planned finishing work was miraculously completed two days ahead of schedule yesterday. No slackening is allowed.

Just as he was lost in thought, his notebook beeped. It was Ivan.

"You were looking for me? I was taking a shower at the time."

Are you close to my compartment right now?

"It's quite close; I just got back after finishing some personal business."

"Come over anytime if you have time."

……

The first phase of work is basically complete, the tugboats are in place, and work can begin at any time.

Four laser operators worked together, simultaneously activating laser beams to precisely cut the inner and outer walls of the two living quarters in front of the temporary bulkhead. Grooves were etched into the surface of the four walls, which were then deepened into narrow cuts. Apart from a faint purple light, the whole process was almost silent.

The excimer laser cutter emits high-intensity short-wave ultraviolet light that is invisible to the naked eye. These high-energy photons do not burn through the material with high temperature, but directly cut the molecular bonds. Wherever the beam reaches, foam and fabric instantly vaporize. With surgical precision, the laser team has perfectly achieved cold cutting.

Cutting through the first two bulkheads took nearly an hour. The progress could have been twice as fast, but Han Jing chose to proceed cautiously. He frequently stopped the work to check the status of each piece of equipment: Was the space station's stabilization computer maintaining system balance? Could the support frame prevent the front structure from detaching prematurely? Did the laser device produce any scattered debris?

Since the last radiator test failure, Shenglong has been extremely cautious in preventing space debris. That accident was not only embarrassing, but also caused extremely high losses.

Since no one expected such a serious malfunction, the space station crew was only able to recover about three-quarters of the runaway radiator debris.

The cutting operation proceeded smoothly until the front 30-meter section was completely separated from the rear 70-meter main body. The cutting machine then shut down the laser system, and the final system self-test showed everything was normal. Han Jing then signed the work order to authorize the operation.

The computer simultaneously released the locking clamps on the target compartment, and just one millisecond later, the engines of the two robotic tugboats suddenly started.

Inside the command module, Commander Sheng Long watched as the abandoned forward sections were slowly pushed away until they reached a safe distance. Although some supplies could be recovered, most of them had become scrap. Perhaps some usable materials could still be salvaged to replenish the new space station.

He quickly checked the status report. The space station was operating stably, and the temporary forward bulkhead of the shortened living module was in perfect working order. The entire operation was flawless.

Only then did he realize that he had been hunched over the control panel with tension the whole time, so he let out a long sigh of relief and relaxed his tense shoulder blades.

The remaining reconstruction work can probably be completed in the rest of today, as the construction team has already prefabricated the front-end components, including all accessories, docking sleeves, and support frames.

Next, all that's needed is to successfully dock them with the living quarters and then re-secure the currently free-floating front elevator shaft to these components and the new hub.

"Well done. Please pass on my praise to everyone involved in the mission," Sheng Long said. "I just spoke with Director Sun, and he highly praised the operation. You know, he's not someone who's easily swayed."

"Thanks."

Early May.

Sasha, wearing an extravehicular activity suit, was hovering next to a construction worker who was reassembling wedge-shaped components of the space station's superstructure outside the reactor living module. Song Xingye, meanwhile, was hiding in an equipment bay twenty meters away, operating his camera.

The female worker briefly explained the work in ten seconds. Then, Sasha stepped back slightly, allowing Song Xingye's camera to capture both the workers continuing their work in the background and a clear close-up of Sasha's face.

With only two months left until launch, this facility, formerly a space station, has now been transformed into a bustling construction site operating 24/7. As the world's attention is focused on Country A's "Space Odyssey" spacecraft completing its orbit around the Earth, space exploration has once again become a remarkable and extraordinary spectacle.

Anyone who raises binoculars or a small telescope can witness dozens of space workers meticulously constructing this giant spacecraft, just like worker ants.

“I don’t like that line,” Song Xingye told Sasha through a private communication channel. “I think a more accurate statement would be: For the first time in a century, space is no longer seen as a commonplace thing.”

After the discussion, Sasha re-recorded the narration, and then the two returned to the cabin.

The fieldwork schedule is already fully booked, and the two of them have to squeeze in time even to eat breakfast and put on their cabin work clothes. If it weren't for Director Sun Liancheng personally negotiating with Commander Sheng Long, they wouldn't have been able to get even this little bit of filming time.

"This is destined to be a high-stakes gamble; it's either a place in history or utter ruin. If disaster strikes, there's nothing I can do, but if we succeed, I must make sure our name is on the honor roll! This means you can send reporters to the front lines to film us at any time."

I will consult with the flight crew to keep media interference within necessary limits, but I will give reporters the green light if they feel it is necessary.

On the news channel screen, the launch countdown clock was prominently displayed. Every issue of "Headline" sensationalized new space construction accidents, even fabricating absurd stories of zero-gravity revelry and secret contact with aliens. For example, it included a composite photo of Sun Liancheng in his office talking to a one-meter-tall, big-eyed silver alien.

There are even conspiracy theories claiming that this operation, like the previous twenty, is a complete hoax.

For the general public, the "most important scientific discovery in human history" mentioned by Dr. Yeh—the alien spaceship discovered by Song Xingye—is gradually being overshadowed by the surrounding noise.

Today, that spaceship has long since disappeared, leaving only scientists endlessly claiming that it once came. Those "little green men" who visited Earth have not shown up, nor have they staged a "serving humanity" landing scene on anyone's lawn or in a city square.

Just a few weeks ago, this alien spaceship was an abstract concept that captivated the world, but in the blink of an eye, it has been overwhelmed by the trivialities of daily life.

But when you look up and see the giant spaceship taking shape in space, it feels incredibly real.

Song Xingye returned to the cabin, and the camera was tracking Sasha as she slowly descended along the central passage. At this moment, Song Xingye was also in a state of weightlessness and suspension. Behind him, an engineer who had just finished get off work stood on the "floor" with Velcro grip mats under his feet, steadily supporting Song Xingye's body and slowly leading him back into the depths of the passage.

Meanwhile, Sasha floated leisurely toward the camera with a gentle push from another volunteer. Every few minutes, the air resistance inside the cabin would slow Sasha down, and the two had to go back and reshoot the long take.

"Yesterday, we completed our first full-power engine test. This extreme load made it all seem incredibly real," Sasha said to the camera. "The Xihe is equipped with four engines, two for each reactor and power subsystem."

When a single engine is running at full load, it will consume more than 2.5 gigawatts of electricity. When combined, they consume more electricity than many large cities. What the Xihe uses to exchange this astonishing amount of electricity is real thrust.

For knowledgeable viewers watching on screen, the fact that this nuclear propulsion system generates over 20 Newtons of thrust when activated sounds like an astronomical figure. However, in comparison, the thrust of each of the ten nuclear thermal engines in Country A is five times the total thrust of the "Xihe" spacecraft.

The "Xihe" was not a sprinter. At the time of ignition and launch, its acceleration was less than 0.5 G. In comparison, the takeoff acceleration of the A country's spacecraft was twenty times that of the Dong country. It was like a rabbit racing against a tortoise. The "Xihe" was initially far behind.

However, after only a few hours, the Odyssey ran out of propellant and could only glide along its orbit toward Mars by inertia. To this day, it remains in this unpowered gliding state.

The Xihe spacecraft, on the other hand, is a marathon runner. Its nuclear-powered VASIMR variable-ratio impingement plasma propulsion system will not fail after just a few hours or days. It can operate continuously for months, accelerating the spacecraft until it reaches the midpoint of Jupiter's orbit, and then turning around to continuously decelerate until it reaches Mars.

Although the VASIMR thrusters can only provide the "Xihe" with a speed increase of a few centimeters per second, the cumulative effect is significant. With 86,000 seconds a day, that's more than 2.5 million seconds a month. Such a cumulative speed increase should not be underestimated.

……

Sheng Long glanced at the clock projected on his retina; it was 7:45 UTC, and they were about to switch to the spaceship's standard time zone.

He silently read through the short speech, which would be broadcast via the ship's internal broadcasting system and simultaneously broadcast live globally, along with Director Sun Liancheng's speech in his office on Earth.

He will be broadcasting live from the control room. Song Xingye has already set up the camera, and the equipment is directly connected to the ground broadcast control center. At 7:50, the news anchor appears on the screen and briefly summarizes the key points of Director Sun's speech in less than a minute.