Chapter 218 - 212 Endeavour_1

"Shall we... interfere with the suppliers?"

Incorporating parts suppliers into the base’s production planning and management — would that be overstepping? Suppliers aren’t subordinate companies, after all.

Xie Liaofu said, "I have reviewed most of the parts catalog, the outsourced components are relatively simple, and the main core components are produced at the base.

So hurrying the suppliers is feasible, but the main issue is still internal to the base. If we could implement computerized management of all production, efficiency could be increased by at least 20%. I’m confident we can get the first H2M flying in November rather than December."

Lin Ju thought, who said Russia was poor at computer technology? Back in the day, the Union’s planned OGAS system was meant to bring every factory in the country under computer management, issuing production orders automatically—now that’s the future!

Xie Liaofu wanted to revive OGAS in New Yuan, and Lin had no objections. After all, Xie Liaofu was now a legendary scientist in the system, a man he chose to trust unconditionally.

"Then both bases are in your hands," he said.

Xie Liaofu accepted Lin Ju’s commission with equanimity and added,

"I also hope to expand the base and increase the workforce further, to around 8,000 official employees."

For New Yuan, which had achieved full numerical control processing and a high degree of automation, 8,000 people was undoubtedly an insane number. Yet, luckily, the base was still spacious enough to accommodate so many people, though housing might pose a bit of a problem.

B-level Base had its own dormitories; any increase would mean commuting or building extensions, but these were minor issues.

None of these would negatively impact New Yuan’s current production plan, as the capacity was more than sufficient.

It was also on this day that the remaining two axial cabin segments of the Forward Space Station were completed, but it would not be until the end of August that they could be transported for launch.

Since these cabin segments had a significant amount of equipment installed, setting up and calibrating this equipment would take about half a month—it wasn’t as simple as just a tourist cabin any longer.

Meanwhile, in another workshop, there were two 45-ton large-scale laboratory modules, the Aerospace Administration’s "Ask Heaven" and "Dream Heaven" laboratories. These two had even stronger scientific features and were more expensive. They were scheduled for launch into the space station in September as well, by which time the Tiangong Space Station would surpass the Hila Space Station with a mass of 240 tons, becoming the second-largest in-orbit space station in the world.

After that, the remaining twelve centrifugal cabin segments, six radiating cabins, and twelve connecting cabin segments of the Forward Space Station would also be built in succession. It was preliminarily decided to use the total capacity of the two bases to complete the construction and launch of these thirty segments within one year.

By the first half of 2018, the Forward Space Station would be officially operational, roughly just two years after its inception—astonishingly fast.

...

On July 24, an An-1250 carrying the Mecca Spaceship landed at the airfield of B-level Base, bringing the spacecraft back to the factory for maintenance and overhaul, then around August 20, it would be transported to Mukala for the next manned launch mission.

Since both the space shuttle and rockets belonged to Abe, each time they only needed to pay a bit of shipping and maintenance fees, just about 100 million US dollars.

Although it was more expensive than launching from Qiongzhou, it was only slightly cheaper than the Alliance Spaceship. But was Saudi Arabia the kind of place to care about this little amount of money?

Actually, Hamand was now riding high; the Hila Space Station and the Mukala Aerospace Launch Site had brought unimaginable huge profits to Abe.

It should be noted that there are two factions among those who believe in the true God, and the two representative countries of these factions are Abe and Persia.

The two had been competing for the market of the faithful. Abe was a little wealthier, but Persia’s industrial development had been fairly good in recent years, so it was a battle with evenly matched wins and losses.

Now, it was different. Abe leapt from being a mere carp to a dragon gate, becoming the fourth country after America, Russia, and China to be able to "independently" send astronauts into space.

Although the outside world was skeptical about this matter, just say whether it was launched by Abe, and who owns the contract for the Mecca Spaceship.

So, Hamand, with a grand gesture, did something the Union had done decades ago during the era of Xun Zong:

He sent two astronauts from every country that shared the faith in the true God into space to join the space station, offering free training and free launches. Regardless of the sect, as long as you sent people over, everything was arranged by the spaceship.

Apart from the three countries involved with the Hila Space Station, seven other countries immediately responded to Hamand’s call. Fourteen astronauts had already been selected and were soon to be sent to Abe... and then transferred to China for training.

So the number of countries with astronauts entering space was about to grow significantly.

America was extremely dissatisfied with Abe’s actions to win people’s hearts, and multiple environmental organizations had already declared that the Mukala Aerospace Launch Site was in a bad location, potentially causing catastrophic damage to marine life. However, no one dared to protest there; they could only demonstrate at the embassies of Abe in various countries.

...

America, Kennedy Space Center.

A local middle school was organizing a tour here, and then they heard the piercing sound of jet engines outside.

An old-looking Boeing 747 landed at the airport outside, carrying NACA engineers and Boeing technical staff.

Boeing actually had a lot to say about the new FATS plan.

The Congress old-timers thought retrofitting the old Endeavour would save money and time, which was completely wishful thinking on their part.

Indeed, Endeavour was the last Space Shuttle to enter service, but its condition was not so great now.

In 2011, all Space Shuttles were grounded and retired, and the three costly RS-25 engines at the tail end of Endeavour were removed and replaced with models for exhibition.

The removal was not to sell as scrap but because America’s main space plan at that time was the "Constellation Program" proposed by President Bush. It included the Ares V rocket, which also needed the RS-25 engines. After the Space Shuttle program, sixteen RS-25 engines were left over and were saved for future rocket use, with the SLS appearing later.

Endeavour hadn’t undergone maintenance for five years, the engines had been removed, and the internal pipelines had not been given much attention at the time, who knows what state they were in?

Before using the Boeing 747 to tow Endeavour back to the factory, Boeing and NACA engineers drove the troublesome middle school students away, then lowered Endeavour, which was suspended by steel cables, and a dozen engineers hastily examined the state of Endeavour.

Boeing’s FATS project leader, Christopher Douglas, was the first to enter the opened hatch and immediately smelled a musty odor.

The interior instruments and facilities of Endeavour were still intact, and there had been an exhibition flight in Chicago in 2012, but as for its condition...

Douglas forcefully prying open the cockpit floor, saw the moldy wiring harness beneath.

He turned to the NACA engineers:

"Gentlemen, Endeavour is in a very bad state. Although its main structure is still intact, I’m afraid the entire electrical system and control system will need to be replaced. It’s more troublesome than building a new one. Many parts are outdated and need replacing, and redesigning the layout is going to be a headache;

Just restoring Endeavour’s fuselage to a usable state... I believe it will cost at least 300 to 500 million US dollars, with at least 60% of the parts needing to be replaced, and it will require retesting for load-bearing capabilities."

"Douglas, the budget is for the Senate to consider, and refurbishing Endeavour was also their requirement. Atlantis Number and Discovery may even follow."

"Oh my, I can’t imagine how those old-timers are supposed to refurbish those. If it were up to me, I’d rather design a new one."