Chapter 62

"Then let's take a step back and burn fifty million first, buy two Atlas rockets from Convair, and then do an orbital docking?"

Lin Ran used his hands to simulate the spacecraft, holding them together in the air:

"Look, the spacecraft completes docking in the air.

No matter which plan it is, as long as you want to go to the moon, you can't bypass rocket docking. If we can lead in this technology, as long as NASA doesn't reinvent the wheel, they absolutely can't avoid us."

John Morgan said: "Brother, you'd better think of something else.

The Atlas rocket originated from the SM-65 Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile, which was deployed by the Air Force a few years ago.

According to the news I know, the cost of a single unit is about 5 million dollars, and if sold, it would be at least 8 million dollars.

In addition, we can't buy it at all. Although it is produced by Convair, the ownership and use rights of this kind of strategic weapon are in the hands of the federal government.

So don't think about it; let's get the order from NASA first."

During this period, Lin Ran ran to the General Aerospace company every few days. The plan was about to be handed over to NASA; it would be a joke if it didn't pass the first round.

Also in this process, Lin Ran met the engineer Jim whom John Morgan poached from the Glenn L. Martin Company—to be precise, it should be the chief engineer, Jim Chamberlin.

This person was also a famous figure; he was a Canadian.

In February 1959, Canada suddenly announced the cancellation of the Arrow rocket project. This news led to 14,000 employees at the aerospace factory near Toronto, Ontario, losing their jobs.

It also led to the departure of Jim Chamberlin, the chief aerodynamic expert of the fighter jet CF-105.

He first worked at Glenn L. Martin. After Glenn L. Martin's project was not selected, he joined NASA and became the chief engineer of the manned spaceflight projects Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo, and was regarded by Canadians as a symbol of talent outflow to America.

Because of Lin Ran's appearance and the spin-off of General Aerospace, Jim's fate took a turn here; he was poached by John Morgan from Glenn L. Martin to General Aerospace to be the chief engineer.

"Randolph, why did you think of adding 13 tons of liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen propellant and 3 LR-115 engines, and redesigning the lifting body design into a blunt body reentry design?" Lin Ran finally came to the company, and Jim almost grabbed every moment to communicate with the other party.

Before, Lin Ran was in Xiangjiang and could only communicate with them remotely; the efficiency was too poor, and many doubts could not be fully answered.

Jim Chamberlin's view of Lin Ran also underwent a transformation from scrutiny to admiration.

At first, he thought that as a mathematical master, the other party might only be able to give some suggestions from a mathematical perspective; he couldn't quite understand where the kind of worship his other engineer colleagues had for Lin Ran came from.

In this era, it was not an easy thing to make white engineers admire you.

Later, with remote communication and project advancement, he was truly convinced. The other party was indeed much stronger than him. This strength was not in any one point, but in the overall grasp.

Compared to the plan he thought of at the beginning, the current plan was leading in all aspects at a glance, and even the aesthetics of the design drawings were leading.

Lin Ran explained: "What we are doing is a moon landing mission, not a lunar orbit mission.

The entire spacecraft needs to land on the lunar surface, so the added 13 tons of liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen propellant and 3 LR-115 engines provide descent capability.

And not choosing the lifting body design is because such a design requires too many control processes.

Too many control processes mean an increase in links, and an increase in links means risk. We need to be as simple as possible, reducing technical difficulty instead of increasing it.

The design here helps the landing module withstand the impact of lunar landing, including the structure of the command module and the mission module, which have all been strengthened.

The entire mission process has changed from simple orbital maneuvering to complex descent and possible ascent stages.

In such a situation, you need to consider both descent and ascent at the same time. Using a lifting body design is not only more complex but also heavier, requiring a rocket with greater thrust.

This is also a potential failure point."

Lin Ran looked directly at Jim, his eyes sharp, full of confidence in what he said.

It would be strange if he wasn't confident, because he was infinitely familiar with the Apollo program.

He didn't know how many historical materials he had read.

He was just short of participating in person.

"Including if we pass the preliminary review, we will optimize it later, and we need to consider propellant distribution to balance the thrust requirements of the descent and ascent stages."

"The variant here is to make the T-410's reentry moderately controllable. Look, the reason we want to add four aluminum alloy control flaps here, and a composite heat shield made of ablative materials and high-temperature alloys (is to ensure that the solar panels are not exposed, and can still continuously provide power to the spacecraft in space)."

"Pair these two electronic devices with the propulsion module. In addition to the electronic equipment of the manned lunar landing spacecraft, we also need to be equipped with engines and liquid fuel.

Ensure that the T-410 uses the lower stage connected to the rocket adapter ring on the way to the moon.

These are enough to make it truly land on the moon."

Jim looked at Lin Ran with admiring eyes, while Lin Ran thought to himself: Actually, these are not important; what is important is to get the approval of Maxime Faget, the chief designer of NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center.

According to the declassified documents of the Apollo moon landing history, the implicit rule of any spacecraft design competition is that whatever Maxime Faget wants, Maxime Faget gets.

Maxime Faget obtained an implicit veto power from NASA.

Besides that, nothing else is important.

John F. Kennedy won the election on November 8, 1960.

After winning the election, the other party gave a speech.

This Christmas, Professor Horkheimer returned to Germany for Christmas, while John Morgan spent the New Year with his family at the family villa.

Huang Yunji, editor-in-chief of the *Chinese American Daily*, knew that Lin Ran was alone, so he strongly invited the other party to spend the New Year at his home, saying that he was also alone.

Unfortunately, NASA's bidding preliminary selection had already ended, General Aerospace entered the semi-finals, and Lin Ran also accepted the first round of investigation from the relevant federal authorities.

The first round on the surface, and after the investigation ended, the other party clearly told him that any of his future departures from the country needed to be communicated with them in advance.

Lin Ran declined to avoid bringing trouble to Huang Yunji; after all, the other party's identity and the unit he worked for were extremely sensitive.

He originally planned to go to New York Times Square, preparing to spend Christmas and the last day of 1960 here.

Just like when he came, standing in the center of Times Square under the witness of the neon light ball marked with the word 1961, it just so happened that he had countless "doors" near Times Square.

Just didn't expect that Fred would invite him to his home for Christmas; Lin Ran felt it was simply too interesting.