Chapter 165 - 161 X2A Yao Yi_1

Deng Lei also felt himself boiling over, his heart racing upward with the liquid oxygen venting from the New Yuan-2A.

The New Yuan’s lunar mission team was also in the selection process, with Deng Lei as the sole candidate for the commander due to his seniority, although it was not necessarily aboard the New Yuan-2A going to the Moon. However, the mission of the New Yuan-2A represented the official start of New Yuan’s lunar program.

This unmanned test launch featured a three-stage configuration; the next step would involve sending a super-large Lunar Space Station weighing 50 tons to the Moon, also with five modules. It could accommodate seven astronauts for 30 days without any issues if they squeezed in a bit.

Next to him was the Russian, Oleg Kononenko, the commander of the Union TMA-17M mission.

After the TMA-17M spacecraft incident, Kononenko took on some administrative responsibilities within the Russian Space Agency, but that did not mean he was done with space.

The joint lunar project agreed upon by Russia, Italy, and France with the Space Agency aimed to establish scientific research camps on the lunar surface for the three countries, where more than seven astronauts could be stationed long-term.

The Space Agency was responsible for the rockets, while the habitat modules were jointly developed by the four countries, with Russia mainly in charge of the nuclear technology part. Both France and Italy contributed technology and funding.

This mission was internally named Chang’e 10 by the Space Agency and was expected to be completed around 2021.

Around 2020, the Space Agency would use the CZ-10 to send four astronauts from the four countries to the lunar surface, marking the initial phase of crewed cooperation.

Of course, what these three countries had paid for this is unknown, but the government certainly would not suffer a loss.

Oleg Kononenko was a noticeable man, his eyes like two olives squished onto his face. He now warmly placed an arm around Deng Lei’s shoulders:

"Deng, your Xinyuan Company’s plan is to land on the Moon in 2019, a year earlier than our four-country cooperation. I hope that when I go up there, I’ll be able to see you at the Moon Base."

Deng Lei: "Davarish, if Russia were willing to put up ten billion US Dollars, we might even go to the Moon together."

"Hehehe..."

It was a joke; if Russia had ten billion US Dollars, it would dare to undertake its own lunar mission.

After a dry laugh, Oleg said, "Deng, the rocket is about to launch."

At the launch center, Guo Shen was discussing the design of the New Yuan-2A with CZ-5 chief designer Li Xi.

Li Xi: "Our new CZ-5 will be made public soon. Like the New Yuan-2A, the CZ-15 configured in CBC will look quite similar to the New Yuan-2, just a bit taller."

Guo Shen: "Indeed, very similar, even the number of engines is the same at seven. But the thrust of the YF135 is much greater than the M220, with a thrust of 360 tons."

Li Xi: "To be precise, the sea-level thrust can reach 372 tons, and the nozzle diameter is only 1.8 meters. It’s only slightly less than your K380, which actually can reach 400 tons of thrust, right?"

Guo Shen: "Yes, that’s correct. In fact, if we were to further increase the pressure of the K380 and expand the nozzle a bit, we could achieve a single-engine thrust of 500 tons, which would catch up with the YF130. However, I am very curious, how will CZ-5 recover?"

Li Xi: "Grid fin recovery. Institute 8 will try to modify a CZ-6 first to verify this method, but now the Space Agency internally leans towards using a net to capture the grid fins, which allows for a higher error tolerance."

Guo Shen: "The performance of your current flexible materials is indeed quite impressive, and the recovery with steel support structures we use is actually not much different, perhaps even somewhat better."

Li Xi: "I’ve just thought of a scenario, one day in the future, when the CZ-15 and New Yuan-2A are erected side by side at two launch pads. The CZ-15 will look a bit taller. But the carrying capacity of the CZ-15 is 180 tons, a big notch above yours, unless it’s the CZ-9, no other rocket could surpass it."

Guo Shen fell silent for a moment, and after a dozen seconds, Li Xi also realized what he had said.

The New Yuan No. 3 rocket is planned to fly this year with the capability of carrying 247 tons to low Earth orbit. Who would dare to compete with it for first place?

During the conversation between the two, New Yuan-2A had already entered the 15-minute countdown.

On the distant beach, over four hundred thousand people uncomfortably watched the New Yuan-2A, which seemed to be tilting its neck.

What’s the most uncomfortable thing about the New Yuan-2A? Although it’s set at a 45-degree angle, the paint job is still done as if it’s facing the launch tower directly, making it look very awkward.

But awkwardness aside, that can’t mask the majesty of the world’s number one rocket.

Griffin and Aldrin bought some open space with their banknotes, but they could still feel the terrifying heat from the gathering crowd. Scattered fire crews were spraying mist overhead with special nozzles to prevent widespread heatstroke.

Griffin: "Buzz, sometimes the progress of technology is quite amazing. The X2A is bigger and heavier than the Saturn V, but I believe if they existed in the same era, the X2A would still be cheaper, even without being reusable."

Aldrin: "All I know is that sitting on top must be awesome."

"Countdown, thirty seconds!"

The voice from the launch center came through the loudspeakers set up on the tourist beach, as tens of thousands of eyes were fixed on the New Yuan-2A.

In the VIP section, Yun Hongjun thought of the CZ-10, mentally replacing the image of the New Yuan-2A with that of the CZ-10.

"Ten, nine, eight... three, two, one, ignition."

Actually, the engines had started igniting when the count reached six, and the New Yuan-2A’s ignition was also sequential.

The core stage and two boosters’ 21 engines were ignited in sync and in order, but as soon as the 18th engine was lit, the New Yuan-2A had already begun to lift off from the launch pad.

engines, say it’s a lot, but also not that many.

The current holder of the record for the most engines in the world is still the former Union’s N1 "Big Firework", with 30 NK-15 engines at the top of the list, and the Heavy Falcon, with 27 engines, is not far behind. Compared to them, 21 doesn’t seem like much.

On the other hand, space agencies previously believed that having more than 10 engines was not stable, well, NACA thought the same.

But no matter what they thought, now, the New Yuan-2A, holding the title of the world’s number one rocket with 21 engines, has begun to rise amidst an earth-shattering roar, the sound of the rocket engines deafening.

How to describe the noise made by the 4,700 tons of thrust? Just look at the silent crowd in the live news footage to understand.

Microphones picked up the massive noise and reduced the volume, which resulted in the reporter’s voice being inaudible, leaving only the processed sound of continuous explosions.

The backwash from the 21 liquid oxygen and methane engines mingled together, engulfing the entire launch tower and the powerful airflow nearly broke the surrounding trees, while spectators on the beach saw ripples in the sea.

The Director of the Launch Administration, Director Huang, called for the fire brigade with just one glance at the size of the tail flame. He had previously cut a circle of trees around the area to avoid the tail flame igniting the forest, but it was still underestimated.

Firefighters were ready for action, waiting for the rocket to climb a bit higher before rushing in.

From their angle, the 21 engine nozzles looked like a short bar-shaped desk lamp going up in the sky, the engine emitting white-blue tail flames like giant light bulbs.

New Yuan-2A is ascending at seven times the speed of sound.