Chapter 94: Bright Moon
Although Spieth's company's "Mars Project" is progressing in full swing, no matter what, people have calmed down and finally turned their attention to the Xinghai Space Base.
Over a period of several months, one after another of Xingyun series rockets were launched into space.
And 30 kilometers away in the lunar synchronous orbit, an orbital space station nearly 30 meters long and wide is slowly flying around the moon.
"Calling ground, this is the lunar orbit command center. Please respond if you hear me. Over."
About two seconds later, a response came from the Earth's Xinghai Space Base in the space station.
"Xinghai Base received, over."
Li Jian's eyes fell on the black spot as big as an ant under the glass of the space station, and he had a happy smile on his face.
"The basic support base has successfully arrived at the scheduled landing point and has landed in a good posture. Our two astronauts are ready to land on the lunar surface at any time to carry out the next step of work."
During this period of time, after dozens of spacewalk missions, the lunar orbit command center has been completed and can now enter fully autonomous operation.
However, according to the plan, there must always be an astronaut stationed here to avoid the need for human takeover in the event of an accident.
Thinking of this, Li Jian's eyes showed regret.
"Received. The Xingyun 2 spacecraft is expected to arrive in three days. You can select two astronauts to land tomorrow and carry out the construction of the support base according to the predetermined plan."
"The Lunar Orbit Command has received the plan that He Guozhang and Shi Xianliang will carry out the landing mission."
"Received. I wish you a complete success in your mission in advance. Over."
The space station became quiet. Li Jian floated above his seat and quickly retracted the expression on his face.
The hatch behind him slowly opened.
"The ground data has been mapped and the risk level is extremely low."
The speaker is He Guozhang, who is about 45 years old. This age is considered to be in the prime of life among astronauts, and he has indeed had several successful space flight records.
"Captain He, I just contacted the ground. They have agreed to our landing request. The remaining three spacecraft will arrive in three days. By then, these spacecraft will rely on the intelligent control system to autonomously enter the predetermined landing orbit."
He Guozhang nodded with a smile. He also admired this young man whom Liu Shuai valued very much. He was neither arrogant nor impatient, had strong self-discipline, and was mature and steady.
"Okay then, get ready. You and Shi Xianliang will go down together tomorrow."
"Okay, Captain He, huh? Captain He, what about you? I mean, the original plan was for you and Xianliang to go down."
Li Jian's always calm face showed surprise at this moment.
"Stop talking nonsense. Times have changed. We are no longer in the era where all operations are done manually. Xinghai's intelligent control system is really amazing. It can even land on the lunar surface autonomously."
When Li Jian heard Captain He mention Xinghai, a smile appeared on his face.
These were all the work of his brothers, and he was proud of it.
"Captain He, you and Xianliang can just go down. I'm still young and have plenty of opportunities."
He understood what the other party meant. They wanted to give him this opportunity that would go down in history.
He Guozhang released his hand that was holding the fixed rod, and his body floated up. He stretched his body, his eyes fixed on the bumpy gray moon under the glass, and he remained silent for a long time.
Once upon a time, he had never even dreamed of such a scene.
Today, the moon is very close to the earth, at a distance of 300,000 kilometers.
It would be a lie to say that I'm not moved. That's simply impossible, and it's impossible for anyone.
But he also knew how precious this opportunity was for this young man who was being trained by Coach Liu.
He Guozhang squinted his eyes, perhaps it was natural, he enjoyed this weightless environment very much, just like a fish returning to the river or the sea, he felt an indescribable sense of freedom all over his body.
"I'm confident in your calmness. You've been the best in all the pre-training tests, even as good as me. Don't be so fussy, young man. It's settled."
Li Jian wanted to say something, but when he saw the other person enjoying himself, he couldn't help but laugh. Although he was always silent, he was not stupid.
"Yes, Captain He, don't worry, I will never let you down for the opportunity you gave me!"
The next day was the evening of the Mid-Autumn Festival on Earth time.
At this time when families are reunited, the command center of the Xinghai Space Base is crowded.
At the same time, 300,000 kilometers away, on the real-time picture sent from the lunar orbit command center, two "fully armed" astronauts were sitting steadily in the cabin of the Xingyun-1 spacecraft.
"Ship status check completed, requesting to leave command center."
Li Jian's voice was transmitted to the lunar orbit command center, and then transmitted by the communication system to the Earth-Moon orbit relay satellite and finally reached the command hall of the Xinghai base.
This time, no one answered in the base command hall.
"You are allowed to secede. Good luck to you."
This voice belongs to He Guozhang and comes from the Lunar Orbit Command Center.
From now on, all command authority on the moon will be under the responsibility of the Lunar Orbit Command.
Today in Daxia, the streets are deserted.
Every household turned on various live broadcast media at the same time, nervously watching the real-time images from 300,000 kilometers away.
At Li Jian's command, the spacecraft started the disengagement procedure.
Seen from the outside, it looked as if a huge block of object had fallen off the lunar orbit command center, and then slowly fell toward the bumpy lunar surface below.
As the spacecraft descended faster and faster, Li Jian and Shi Xianliang in the cabin gradually felt a slight gravity acting on them.
"The descent speed is normal and continues to be operated by the intelligent control system."
As if he was not used to the silence for too long, Li Jian reported softly.
"Got it, keep it up."
As if He Guozhang could guess his thoughts, his voice came from the spacecraft's horn.
There is no atmosphere on the moon's outer layer, and due to its low gravity, the spacecraft did not generate intense heat when rubbing against the atmosphere like on Earth, and the landing speed was not fast.
Li Jian could feel that this descent process was not as violent as the shaking that his predecessors had described as occurring when the earth was landing.
Really stable.
As the system controlled the ignition of the rocket engine, the spacecraft's landing speed slowed down again.
If someone looked up from the lunar surface at this time, they could clearly feel that the spacecraft in the sky was slowly falling downwards as if being dragged by an unknown force.
"Distance 20 kilometers, landing attitude normal."
A mechanical voice came from the intelligent voice system.
Li Jian closed his eyes slightly.
"About to land, attitude normal, reverse thrust engines started."
Shi Xianliang and the other two felt as if someone pushed them hard from behind, and then there was a slight vibration when the spacecraft touched the lunar surface.
"The spacecraft has landed and its attitude is normal. Do you want to start the EVA procedure?"
Li Jian's eyes suddenly opened, and he had already felt the most real gravity from the moon.
"Initiate the exit procedure."
(End of this chapter)
