Chapter 148 - 144 Voyaging Around the World_1

The people inside the small room were struck dumb; they believed what they heard here was the future direction of New Yuan Aeronautics, and for that reason, they were rendered even more speechless.

At least from the present perspective, the unconventional capitalist Lin Ju and these exceedingly clever engineers had long since looked beyond the earth; even though they were still standing in front of them, their thoughts had already reached the starry sea.

They still didn’t know the purpose of these crazy fellows, perhaps it really was just for the stars and the sea, but that made it all the more shocking.

The superior cracked a little joke, breaking the silence:

"Director Lin is the modern Wan Hu, huh? Wan Hu was an ancient man, but his yearning for the sky made him willing to risk his life to soar into the heavens in a chair, with science and technology merely making the chair safer.

Besides, before long, you’re going to space yourself to see it firsthand. Honestly, I would also love to look down upon the earth from space, from an altitude of 400 kilometers, to gain a new understanding of the planet beneath my feet. It’s just that Factory Manager Lin has the capability to make it a reality."

A few people from the space agency also clapped in agreement:

"Indeed, to reach for the moon above, or to catch turtles in the vast oceans, we can only catch turtles now, but there still has to be someone to reach for the moon."

Guo Shen: "We’ve always believed that it’s a tremendous failure for the leader of a space enterprise to not know what space is like. That’s why starting with the boss, every executive will complete a space flight within a few years."

The superior’s gaze swept across the faces of the crowd before standing up and declaring solemnly:

"New Yuan Aerospace Propulsion Company: dreams, technology, strength, faith. If all the enterprises in the country were like this, that would be wonderful! What you said makes a lot of sense — how can space people call themselves that if they haven’t seen the earth or the cosmos?"

Big Shot and Academician She exchanged glances, sensing that something big was going to happen, but the superior said no more.

...

In the western suburbs of Kiev, at the Antonov Aerospace Science and Technology Consortium.

Andrei Sidinekov stood in a hangar covered with snow and ice, looking up at a dismantled aircraft.

This was the second An-225, but construction had barely begun before it was terminated. Afterwards, neither the biggest party after the Union’s breakup nor the second biggest had the capability to finish it, leaving it to sit there indefinitely.

Of course, the biggest problem wasn’t technical, it was financial. Russia was too strapped for cash, and the subsequent construction of the An-225 might also require some of the Union’s support factories, which made negotiations difficult.

The Antonov Design Bureau really wanted to finish this second aircraft, but encountered significant difficulties. The first An-225 was modified to carry out various transport missions to subsidize the design bureau; however, the money earned was still far from enough to complete the second aircraft.

As the head of production, Director Andrei lamented the pitiful production capacity of his factory. Who could have imagined the glory of this production consortium during the Union’s era?

"Andrei, Andrei, take a look at this, the world’s largest airplane!"

"Have you added vodka to your borscht, Vasily? The world’s largest airplane will soon be returning here for maintenance."

Vasily, who had run across the snowy grounds, was steaming with heat, handed over his phone while catching his breath:

"Khitan, the Khitan people have built an airplane bigger than the An-225!"

Andrei glanced skeptically at the phone, where a short video was playing, showing a large airplane flying overhead against what seemed to be a mountainous backdrop. He recognized it as the An-225 from its wing type; the H-shaped tail was a trademark of the "Dream"!

"Vasily, have you really lost your senses? That’s our An-225. Look at these wings; can’t you recognize your own airplane? The An-225 has been to China before, these videos are all over the place."

"You should count the engines! She has eight of them; that’s not the An-225!"

Andrei looked down once more, this time more carefully, and it did indeed seem not to be the An-225.

The video was a bit blurry, but the eight engines were still discernible, and this airplane’s fuse-to-wing ratio was also different. It didn’t even have a livery, just a bare combination of white and the red registration number.

Still, he found it hard to believe, because it was 2016, and everyone knew videos could be doctored.

Vasily switched web pages on his phone, opened the civil aviation authority’s website, entered the number "B4043", searched, and a record without a photo popped up.

Clicking through, they saw the basic specifications of the An-1250.

"This airplane is made by New Yuan Aerospace Power Company. The chief designer of the An-1250 is Androff, and the aircraft is named after him. It has been officially announced through their official channels, and they claim it was built for transporting large spacecraft and rocket components."

Andrei stared at the phone for a while, then searched on YouTube and found several videos of the An-1250 in flight.

On that day, besides the most clear footage captured by a passing aviation enthusiast, many people had taken photos and videos of the An-1250’s low-altitude test flight with various smartphones and uploaded them online.

Based on the registration, the basic details of the An-1250 were also disclosed, and ultimately, the official Weibo account of New Yuan directly released the completed test flight video, announcing to the world the birth of the giant An-1250 transport aircraft.

Moreover, Lin Ju announced that the second An-1250, registration B4143, would soon make its global debut in a nonstop circumnavigation along latitude 30 degrees north.

A crew of ten, including three sets of flight crews and four engineers, would fly B4143, filled with fuel, departing from New Yuan Airport and flying due east, crossing the Pacific Ocean, south of Island Country, Hawaii, America, the Atlantic, Italy, Central Asia, Russia, and finally entering China from the northwest to land at New Yuan Airport.

The route wasn’t a perfect circle; the total distance was estimated at 42,000 kilometers with 48 hours of flight time, consuming about 650 tons of aviation kerosene, leaving around 50 tons of fuel remaining.

The reason for not following the equatorial route was that it was unachievable; flying at high altitude covers more distance than the circumference of the equator, and it would require refueling and takeoff arrangements at the equator. In order to return to New Yuan after takeoff, the flight engine count needed in the later stages with reduced mass had to be fewer than four, maybe just three or even two, to barely complete a global flight along the equator.

Of course, all these premises were based on having no in-flight refueling. Previously, a Russian An-124 had completed a global flight spanning 50,000 kilometers in 72 hours, but that included several in-flight refuelings and didn’t count.

Leaving the equatorial circumnavigation to a future challenge; even just flying a circle at 30 degrees north was quite remarkable, relying solely on its own fuel, something no other manned aircraft in the world could do.

Besides, many countries are located near the latitude of 30 degrees north; flying over the equator would only be seen by indigenous tribes in untouched lands. Where’s the appeal in that, compared to being photographed and drawing attention?

Naturally, what followed was immense attention to the An-1250 and to New Yuan Company, which had created this miracle.