Chapter 301: Moon Launch, the Millennium Dream of Landing on the Moon [Subscription Request]

"Currently, the vertical assembly and testing of the Long March 10 is proceeding in an orderly manner, and the time will definitely not affect the launch of the rocket at the end of the month."

2023 8 Month 10 Day.

Thursday.

At the space launch site, inside a single-story building nearly 100 meters high, engineers from the rocket assembly team are busy.

Just a few days ago, the Long March 10 carrier rocket and the lunar lander were transported here and will be assembled and transformed here. The entire vertical assembly process will probably last more than 20 days.

According to the previously formulated lunar landing plan, a Long March 10 carrier rocket will be launched first.

Send the lunar lander and lunar landing equipment to near-moon orbit in advance.

After completing this step, the astronauts will officially board the Mengzhou manned spacecraft to go to near-moon orbit and dock with the Moon.

After all, this is different from entering the Tiangong Space Station.

In order to successfully land on the moon and complete the corresponding scientific exploration mission, various equipment and instruments are needed.

With so many things, even the new generation Long March 10 rocket cannot carry the Mengzhou spacecraft and the lunar lander at the same time. The most reliable lunar landing plan is to launch them separately.

It can be said that during this year, Xu Yuan focused all his energy on this manned lunar landing project.

The main responsible party is the Space Technology Research Institute.

of course.

It’s not that because he is from the Space Technology Research Institute, he only cares about the projects that the Space Technology Research Institute is responsible for.

The main lunar lander is the key to the lunar landing, which also includes the lunar suits that astronauts must wear, and the lunar rover that provides a means of transportation for astronauts on the moon. There are many technical difficulties in ensuring the performance and safety of these things.

Fortunately, the final result is quite satisfactory.

All these technical difficulties were successfully resolved.

The scheduled launch time was not delayed.

However, the Long March 10 carrier rocket and the lunar lander were hoisted into a combination.

This important link also includes various tests of the assembly.

As the chief designer, Xu Yuan must be present at the launch site to ensure the successful launch of the first Long March 10 rocket.

It will also set a good example for the subsequent launch of the Mengzhou manned spacecraft.

Give astronauts more confidence.

It can be said that he will stay at the space launch site for the next half month until the rocket is launched.

In addition, he was joined by Academician Chen Jianfang and Academician You Kairong, who was responsible for the manufacture of the Long March 10 rocket.

As for He Luping, because he is concerned about the optimization of the Mengzhou manned spacecraft, he will pay attention to this launch at the Yanjing Flight Control Center.

Xu Yuan, who was wearing a space engineering uniform, had his eyes fixed on the Long March 10 in the factory. He observed this huge machine up close, feeling an indescribable excitement in his heart.

You should know that the length of the Long March 10 is more than 90 meters. If the height is increased further, this 100-meter vertical assembly plant will have to be renovated and rebuilt.

That is to say, the vertical assembly work has just begun, and the Long March 10 is not a complete version.

Otherwise the emotions in my heart will be even more intense.

Just when Xu Yuan's thoughts were wandering, a voice in his ear immediately brought him back to his senses.

The next second, he turned his head to look at the middle-aged man beside him, a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth and he said:

"Director Zhong."

"Your vertical lifting technology is the best in the entire aerospace system."

"I'm definitely relieved."

In response to Xu Yuan's praise, Zhong Guotao had a smile on his face and was quite pleased with the comment.

As the person in charge of the space launch site, the skills and experience of the vertical assembly team in the site are definitely better than those of other domestic satellite launch centers. Even a heavy rocket like the Long March 10 is capable of completing the mission.

The thought stayed here, and he did not remain silent. He immediately took over Xu Yuan's words and responded.

"It's mainly because of you, Dean Xu, and Old Chen Kairong and the others who are in charge. Otherwise, I would have been under a lot of pressure a long time ago."

"How can I have the leisure to come here to watch the progress?"

What he said was not wrong. After all, the Long March 10 and the Lanzhou Moon lander are both new-generation spacecraft, and this is the first time they have carried out the lifting work of two combinations.

The pressure is definitely not small.

After all, this mission involves the first manned lunar landing in China.

Moreover, the specific launch time was announced at a press conference for the launch of a new generation of spacecraft.

With so much attention from viewers around the world, the launch cannot be affected in any way.

After all, the exact launch time is calculated.

Zero window emission must be guaranteed.

Otherwise, if there are problems in docking with Mengzhou and Lanyue, it will be necessary to make adjustments by changing orbit.

It's easy to disrupt the original plan.

In this case, if there is any problem in the vertical assembly work, the responsibility will fall on their space launch site.

But now Xu Yuan, Chen Jianfang and You Kairong, the chief design engineers of the Moon Landing and Long March 10, are here, and any problems can be solved immediately.

The pressure will naturally be much less.

"This is your first time docking the Chang'e 10 and Lanyue 2. It's normal that you lack experience."

"Being able to complete the final assembly and testing in more than 20 days is already a very satisfactory result."

“I believe that the installation of Changshi and Mengzhou will be much faster next month.”

At this time Chen Jianfang interrupted with a smile. It was obvious that everyone in the aerospace system was quite familiar with each other.

"I hope so. As long as everything goes well." Zhong Guotao nodded.

In the following time, several people looked at other places together and strictly controlled the vertical lifting process.

The main Long March 10 may be okay, but the lunar lander will also carry a lunar rover and detection instruments, which require astronauts to be able to disassemble and use them smoothly after arriving on the moon.

If problems arise at that time, the completion of this manned lunar landing mission will be greatly reduced.

Just as Zhong Guotao said, as long as the lifting is carried out smoothly, it doesn't matter if it takes a little more time.

There is no need to rush blindly.

Just don't delay the scheduled launch time.

It can be predicted that Xu Yuan and others will come here frequently in the future, so there is no need to stay too long.

Otherwise, it may affect the work of the lifting personnel.

So before lunch time, Xu Yuan and others led the team to leave this single-story building that was 100 meters high.

When you arrive outside the space launch site, the most eye-catching things in your sight are undoubtedly the two hundred-meter-high launch pads.

Everyone couldn't help but feel excited when they thought that in just over half a month, the Long March 10 and the lunar lander combination would ignite and take off on one of the launch pads.

As an aerospace researcher, I have dedicated half my life to this industry, just to see this day.

Witness with your own eyes the spacecraft designed and developed by your country sending your country's astronauts to the moon, making a great contribution to human civilization's exploration of outer space.

At this moment, everyone couldn't help but stop and look towards the launch pad.

You Kairong suddenly thought of something, and then said: "There is one thing you should have heard. The starship developed by the overseas space exploration technology company will be officially launched at the end of next month for a full-system flight test. This is obviously aimed at us." From his tone and expression, it was obvious that he was quite familiar with the matter.

But this is quite normal.

Who can make us look at the development of the aerospace field around the world today, except for Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, which relies on Starship to compete with the new generation of domestic space vehicles.

There are simply no worthy opponents in other regions.

After launching the Long March 10 and the lunar lander combination at the end of this month, the Mengzhou manned spacecraft will be launched again next month.

The fact that Starship chose to conduct a full-system flight test at this time clearly implies competition.

Xu Yuan listened to everything You Kairong said, but his emotions did not change at all.

As early as last year, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, following the launch of their new generation of spacecraft, announced that it would conduct a full-system flight test of the Starship next year, and the entire network began to pay attention to these two things.

After all, whether it is manned lunar landing or starship test flight, it is of great significance to human civilization's exploration of outer space.

Now that Starship has given a specific flight test time, it will definitely trigger a new round of heated discussions.

The key point is that after the last incident with the Riemann hypothesis, Xu Yuan realized that people overseas want to compete in everything.

Its essence is nothing more than being unwilling to see its international status decline.

I want to use these methods to regain the dignity that I have lost over the years.

But little do people know that it often has the opposite effect.

From the perspective of human civilization, Musk's research on starships is indeed beneficial to the development of aerospace.

However, this time, in a competition with China's manned lunar landing project, it can only be said that it has already lost halfway before it even started.

There are only two possible outcomes to this matter.

If the Starship flight test is successful, it may cause heated discussions, but the attention it will receive will definitely not be as much as the moon landing.

And if the starship flight test fails under this level of attention, it will undoubtedly undermine people's confidence in the development of starships.

Thoughts were working quickly in his mind. Just as Xu Yuan was about to open his mouth to respond to You Kairong's question, he heard Zhong Guotao next to him speak first, causing his lips to move slightly but not open.

"The integration of the starship and the arrow is indeed very powerful, but it is too difficult to successfully develop it."

"This is also the reason why we chose the Long March 10 plan." Chen Jianfang nodded in agreement.

When the decision was made to develop a new generation of spacecraft, there was naturally a plan to integrate the rocket and the ship, but this plan was not adopted in the end.

The most important reason is that the difficulty of research and development is too high.

Greatly increase R&D costs and time.

If we stick to this plan like Musk did, the time for China's moon landing will definitely be significantly delayed.

It does not conform to national conditions.

So relatively speaking, the plan of launching the rocket ship separately and then docking is the safest.

The key feasibility is high.

After Chen Jianfang responded to this sentence, he did not remain silent immediately. Instead, he turned his head to look at Xu Yuan and took the initiative to ask this question again.

"Xu Yuan."

"What do you think of this starship flight test? Will it be successful?"

Faced with the questioning from Chen Jianfang's own father-in-law, Xu Yuan did not keep it a secret at this time.

After thinking for a while, he replied:

"I can't give an accurate assessment, I can only say that the development of a rocket-ship integrated rocket of this specification and performance will definitely not be smooth throughout the process."

“Perhaps the probability of failure is greater than success.”

The voice just fell.

The next second, You Kairong blurted out, "What if you are in charge of the starship project?" Almost the moment this sentence came out, it immediately attracted the slightly curious gazes of several people.

Obviously, everyone is interested in this issue.

Xu Yuan's strength in many fields is there for everyone to see. Basically, there has never been an example of failure in any scientific research project that Xu Yuan is responsible for.

Even to outsiders, it seems impossible to accomplish.

It's simply a miracle.

Taking current events as an example, the research and development of a new generation of spacecraft is undoubtedly the most vivid example.

While Xu Yuan was busy proving the Riemann hypothesis, the aerospace industry had finalized the design of a new generation of launch vehicles, manned spacecraft, and lunar landers. However, during the development process, they encountered various technical difficulties, which caused the development of a new generation of domestic spacecraft to stagnate.

Later, after Xu Yuan proved the Riemann hypothesis, he was appointed as the chief designer of the new generation of spacecraft.

This completed the optimization of the design plan in a very short time.

And successfully solved a number of technical problems.

Even a new niobium alloy material was developed specifically for the new generation of space vehicles.

This has brought the manned lunar landing project forward by so much time.

In this case, with Xu Yuan's talent level, if he really joined the research and development of the starship.

Then maybe it would be possible to create new miracles and help the starship to be developed successfully as soon as possible.

At this time, Xu Yuan met the gazes of the people in front of him, and he couldn't help feeling a little amused and helpless.

However, he himself had never thought about this matter, so he didn't know from which angle to answer it.

Finally, I organized the language a little in my mind and gave the answer.

"There's no point in discussing such an impossible thing. I feel that it won't be long before we start developing space flight equipment that is far more advanced than a starship."

After saying this, without waiting for Chen Jianfang and others behind him, he walked towards the building where the office was located.

……

The Long March 10 carrier rocket and lunar lander were transported to the launch site by sea in special containers.

The container is docked with the horizontal vehicle at the entrance of the lifting plant.

Make sure the track inside the container is aligned with the track of the horizontal vehicle.

After a complex and tense operation process, the lander and the split rocket were pushed into the factory building.

Then the core stage, core stage, boosters and other rocket parts are lifted up steadily and flipped into a vertical state.

Install them one by one on the rocket's mobile launch platform.

For the final assembly and testing engineers, they have carried out the lifting work of many rockets and have rich operating experience.

However, the length of the Long March 10 almost reaches the height of the factory building, and it also needs to be assembled with the lunar lander.

There is no doubt that the difficulty has increased a lot.

This means they can only gain operational experience while lifting, and even if the lifting time is extended, they must ensure that no accidents occur during the operation.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to complete the manned lunar landing on time.

It turns out.

Zhong Guotao did not exaggerate, and finally, before the launch at the end of the month, he successfully completed the final assembly and testing of the rocket and the lunar lander.

Next.

All you need to do is transport the arrow-ship combination carrying the rocket's mobile launch platform to the launch pad and wait for launch.

Because it is the first manned lunar mission in China, it is undoubtedly the top priority for everyone.

Both launch missions will be broadcast live throughout.

With the first Long March 10 carrying a lunar lander, the launch day finally arrived after everyone's anticipation.

The entire Internet can only be described as extremely lively.

Netizens were especially excited and expressed their emotions online and in the live broadcast room.

"I finally waited for this day. Do you know how I spent this year?"

"It's so painful. Every day I dream about the launch of the Long March 10."

"I regret knowing the moon landing date in advance. To be honest, counting the days is really a bit painful."

"Stop talking about this. All the waiting is worth it. We can finally see the launch of the Long March 10 today."

"Today's launch should only be considered an appetizer. After all, the Long March 10 carrier rocket only carries the lunar lander, and there will be no astronauts on board. The main event will be the lunar landing next month."

"I took a day off on purpose. Am I doing the right thing, brothers?"

"We have finally waited for the day when we can reach the moon. Thanks to all the aerospace researchers."

"I wish the Chang'e-10 launch a complete success in advance."

……

2023 8 Month 28 Day.

on Monday.

In the news studio of Yanjing Radio and Television Station, the host is hosting today's special live broadcast program.

"Welcome to today's special live broadcast of the "Nine Days to Reach the Moon" program. At 10:32 today, my country's new generation carrier rocket Long March 10 will ignite and launch from the space launch site with the lunar lander."

"This mission is a key step in our country's manned lunar landing project."

"The Long March 10 will transport the lunar lander to the near-moon orbit and wait for a month to dock with the Mengzhou manned spacecraft."

"Today we specially invited Guo Dongxiao, chairman of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, to be our guest in the studio to explain the entire launch process of the Long March 10."

"Welcome Chairman Guo."

As the female host finished her formal introduction of the guests, Guo Dongxiao, who was sitting in the middle, put on a smile and said "take care" to the camera.

The male host next to him did not delay and asked questions to Guo Dongxiao after getting the right to speak.

"Chairman Guo, the images sent back from the space launch site show that our Long March 10 is already in place on the launch pad. What else do the staff on site need to do next?"

……

As the chairman of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, Guo Dongxiao was invited to the CCTV to participate in this live broadcast program.

When faced with the host's questions related to rocket launches, it was natural for him to explain them easily.

And when asked by the female host later, he expressed his confidence in the launch of the Long March 10, and even directly used a 100% success rate to respond to the audience in front of the screen.

This was not only a sign of trust in the Long March 10, but also because Xu Yuan, Chen Jianfang, You Kairong and others were all present at the launch site.

Enough to cope with any emergency.

And such an answer undoubtedly makes netizens and viewers more excited.

The only trace of worry that I had originally felt disappeared completely.

that's it.

As time passed, when it reached ten o'clock, through the live broadcast screen.

You can see the Long March 10, which is more than 90 meters tall, standing upright on the launch pad.

Even if it's not a close-up view, you can feel its hugeness.

If you observe it in person, the visual impact will probably be much greater.

As for Xu Yuan, Chen Jianfang, You Kairong, Zhong Guotao and others, they had already arrived at the launch site command center and were concentrating and patiently waiting for the ignition and launch of the Long March 10.

"Half an hour to prepare."

As the commander's announcement sounded, Xu Yuan was still a little nervous.

Although he was very confident in the launch of the Long March 10, he was sure that it would be able to successfully complete the mission and allow the lunar lander to successfully enter the near-moon orbit and stand by.

But when it comes to the last half hour, it is inevitable that there will be some changes in mentality.

To put it simply, his nervousness was caused by excitement.

If you look closely at Chen Jianfang, Zhong Guotao and others at this time, you will find that the expressions of the others are not much better either.

no way.

The dream of landing on the moon and flying into space, which the Chinese people have never given up for thousands of years, is finally becoming a reality, and the realization of this dream depends on the efforts of their astronauts.

This is definitely a great honor for myself.

It's something to be proud of.

Spiritual needs will also be met.

Even at this time, although there was still half an hour left before the rocket launch, all the staff were excited but still did not dare to relax at all.

The rocket still needs a final check to ensure that there are no problems.

At the same time, in addition to domestic audiences, many people overseas are also paying attention to the launch of the Long March 10.

Everyone is looking forward to the success of this launch.

After completing the inspection of various components of the rocket, adding fuel and propellant, and calculating orbital parameters, there are only five minutes left to prepare for the rocket launch.

"Five minutes to prepare."

……

"One minute to prepare."

When the countdown for the Long March 10 carrier rocket officially began, the live broadcast showed that the launch pad supports began to be removed, revealing the tall and magnificent rocket.

Soon, a ten-second countdown to ignition sounded.

"ten."

"Nine."

……

"three."

"two."

"one."

"ignition!"

At this historic moment, I wonder how many people in front of the screen and in the audience were counting down silently in their hearts.

Until the ignition command was officially issued, the seven engines of the Long March 10 started up immediately, and a terrifying and huge flame spewed out from the tail. At the same time, the launch pad's large-flow water spray cooling and noise reduction system also began to operate and sprayed a large amount of water.

The evaporating water vapor submerges the lower half of the rocket, making it difficult to see the tail of the rocket.

Finally, under the powerful thrust, the entire arrow gradually increased its speed and pierced straight into the sky like a sharp sword.

……

(End of this chapter)