Chapter 416: The First Photograph

"Second-stage ignition normal, thrust stable, rocket attitude good!"

"Altitude 120 kilometers, speed 4.5 Mach, has exited the main body of the atmosphere, entering the near-space region."

A glimmer of excitement flashed in Li Mingyuan's eyes. At this moment, the rocket was already flying higher than any aircraft, having entered the edge of Earth's atmosphere. In a few more minutes, if everything went smoothly, the Dongfang No. 1 satellite would be sent into its predetermined orbit, becoming the first man-made celestial body in human history to orbit the Earth.

"Altitude 180 kilometers, speed 7.8 km/s, approaching orbital velocity."

This was the most critical moment. To enter a stable orbit, the rocket had to reach the first cosmic velocity—approximately 7.9 km/s. Being slightly too fast would cause the satellite to fly away from Earth, while being slightly too slow would cause the satellite to fall back into the atmosphere.

"Speed 7.9 km/s, orbital requirements met! Second-stage Engine shutdown!"

"Prepare for satellite separation." Li Mingyuan issued the order, his voice laced with tension.

This was the most delicate step in the entire launch process. The satellite had to separate from the rocket at the correct position and in the correct attitude; otherwise, it would likely enter the wrong orbit or even fall back to Earth.

"Satellite separation system activated, countdown starting. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Separation!"

In space, approximately 250 kilometers above the Earth's surface, the Dongfang No. 1 satellite gently separated from the rocket's second stage, beginning its independent journey through space.

"Satellite separation successful! Telemetry data reception normal, satellite has entered the predetermined orbit!"

The entire command center erupted in thunderous applause and cheers. Months of hard work and countless sleepless nights were finally rewarded at this moment. Long Country had successfully sent its first artificial satellite into Earth's orbit, becoming the first nation in the world to conquer space!

Minister Zhang excitedly patted Li Mingyuan on the shoulder: "Success! It's truly a success! Chief Engineer Li, you have made history!"

Li Mingyuan took a deep breath, a weary yet satisfied smile appearing on his face: "This is just the beginning; next, we need to confirm the satellite's operational status."

A successful satellite launch was only the first step; more importantly, it had to be ensured that it could function normally and complete its predetermined scientific tasks.

"Satellite attitude stable, starting solar panel deployment procedure," the satellite controller reported.

Dongfang No. 1 adopted an innovative design—the spherical surface was covered with solar cells, eliminating the need for complex deployment mechanisms and ensuring high reliability. This design seemed very advanced at the time, but Li Mingyuan knew that simplicity often meant reliability.

"Solar cells working normally, power supply sufficient, internal satellite temperature stable at 15 degrees Celsius."

"Activate the radio beacon." Li Mingyuan ordered.

This was one of the satellite's most important functions. The radio beacon would continuously transmit a signal at a specific frequency, allowing ground stations to track the satellite's orbit while announcing Long Country's space achievement to the entire world.

"Radio beacon activated, signal strength normal, frequency stable."

From the command center's speakers, a rhythmic "beep-beep-beep" sound suddenly emerged—this was the sound from space, the Dongfang No. 1 satellite saying hello to Earth!

The entire room erupted in cheers once again, and some even shed tears of excitement. To them, this simple electronic sound was more beautiful than the most wonderful symphony in the world.

"Comrades," Li Mingyuan turned to the team, his voice somewhat choked with emotion, "we did it! Long Country's first artificial satellite is flying in space, showing our technological strength to the whole world!"

The applause was like thunder, and every face was filled with pride and joy.

But Li Mingyuan quickly regained his composure: "The satellite is in orbit, but our work has only just begun. Next is the most critical scientific experiment phase."

"Start the scientific equipment on the satellite." He ordered.

"Temperature Sensor activated, space environment temperature data recording started."

"Cosmic Ray Detector activated, data collection started."

"Microgravity Experiment Package activated, experimental program running."

These seemingly simple scientific devices held irreplaceable value for understanding the space environment and paving the way for future manned spaceflight.

"Finally," Li Mingyuan took a deep breath, "activate the Image Transmission System."

This was the most secret part of the Dongfang No. 1 satellite; even most team members did not know that the satellite also carried a simple optical camera system. Although this camera was primitive, it could capture simple images of the Earth's surface and transmit them back to the ground through a special encoding method.

"Image system activated, starting first imaging procedure."

A separate screen in the command center lit up, beginning to display the data stream transmitted from space. These data appeared to be just a string of meaningless numbers and symbols, but through the decoding algorithm designed by Li Mingyuan, they would be converted into images.

"Data receiving, decoding program started."

The entire command center fell silent; everyone held their breath, staring at that screen. If successful, this would be the first time in human history to see a real image of Earth from space!

The numbers began to transform into pixels, the pixels gradually forming blurry outlines, and then increasingly clear images...

Finally, a complete image appeared on the screen—it was the Earth's surface captured from an altitude of 250 kilometers! The blue ocean, the brown continents, and the white clouds formed a breathtaking panoramic view of space!

The command center instantly fell into Silence, then erupted into irrepressible cheers and applause. Many people shed tears of excitement, and some even knelt on the ground, unable to believe their own eyes.

"It's so spectacular..."

"This is our planet..."

"No human has ever seen the Earth from this angle before..."

Li Mingyuan himself was deeply moved. Although he had seen countless satellite images in his previous life, the sense of accomplishment from personally bringing the first space photograph to this world was indescribable.

"Chief Engineer Li, this... this is simply a miracle!" Minister Zhang was so excited he was incoherent, "You didn't just send a satellite into space, you also let us see a sight never seen before!"

Li Mingyuan smiled and nodded: "This is just the first one; there will be more to come. Dongfang No. 1 will transmit a new set of images every time it orbits the Earth, which is about every 90 minutes."

"Prepare a press release immediately!" Minister Zhang said excitedly, "The whole world must know that Long Country has successfully sent an artificial satellite into orbit and transmitted the first space photograph in human history!"