Chapter 348 - 340 Going Public_1

Luca Christopher and Alan Duras walked along the walkway bridge designed specifically for the space shuttle.

They were the first foreign astronauts to board the "Tiangong" Space Station and the first group of foreign astronauts to take a ride on the H2 series of large space shuttles.

On March 17, the Qi Xinyuan Launch Site selected one of the three rockets in standby mode to launch "Vienna" to the Tiangong Space Station to dock with the "Cloud Palace" Core Module, serving as the future two fully tourist-accessible cabin segments.

At the same time, according to an agreement made more than a year ago, two Italian and French astronauts were also to enter the Tiangong Space Station after the launch of "Vienna" to conduct predetermined space science experiments.

The aerospace agency’s Dawn Spaceship was scheduled for April, so New Yuan simply added two seats to the Glory scheduled for launch on the 21st and sent the two foreigners to the Tiangong Space Station before maneuvering to the Forward Space Station.

Though the crew cabin of the H2M occupied only a small part of the overall structure, the space was extremely large. The design had considered the possibility of adding seats, so with minor modifications, the passenger capacity could be expanded to a maximum of 15 people, the trade-off being negligible in terms of the up-transport capacity.

However, with the H2M’s maximum takeoff weight exceeding 130 tons, when operating in Low Earth Orbit, it was far from its limits, with plenty of fuel to boot, making a mid-journey "stopover" no problem at all.

This trip to space for the Glory was considerably longer since a living module had already been launched, and its cargo hold was filled with a connecting passageway and corresponding trusses.

According to the design of the Forward Space Station, six radiating cabins were each connected to six service modules. Six living modules, secured by connecting passageways and trusses, should logically have the service modules launched first. But New Yuan couldn’t wait and decided to launch the living modules one by one.

Under full steam at the launch site, Glory and Pioneer could ensure a launch interval of 20 days, which was sufficient.

Even with a third or fourth launch, the speed couldn’t be increased much, as the capabilities of the two launch sites were limited.

With permission from New Yuan, Luca and Alan lifted their phones to snap some selfies as soon as they entered the cabin.

Their seats were on the lower level; though there were no portholes, the space was very spacious, so even the last-minute addition of seats didn’t feel rushed, the chairs’ footprint even larger than the usual aviation sofas.

Sitting were two professional astronauts who had been to space before, both had a smooth flight process. Luca even felt that the low G-force and inclined orientation from takeoff aboard the Glory were far too relaxed compared to the "Union" spacecraft, leaving him relaxed enough to joke over the radio throughout the journey.

Since the Xinyuan No.2 Rocket could only send the space shuttle into low orbit, it had to rely on its own propulsion to fly for a while, making the duration of weightlessness before rendezvous and docking slightly less than that of ordinary spacecraft.

For the Tiangong Space Station, the H2M was a behemoth weighing over a hundred tons, heavier than two core modules combined, so both sides were extremely cautious during docking, as a collision could potentially ruin the space station.

When the docking port inside the cargo bay of the Glory successfully docked with "Sky and Earth," the more than ten astronauts from both spacecraft celebrated their meeting warmly and visited each other briefly for an hour.

The mission-bound Glory crew brought up lettuce, bean sprouts, tomatoes, and other supplies grown in "Tiangong." They didn’t stay long after the separation; they shut the cargo bay and adjusted their heading, beginning their ascent to dock with the "Forward."

The first thing Luca Christopher did upon entering the space station was to enter "Vienna" and then, in the online board meeting of Eastern International, symbolically open the cabin with a small key to signify that Arianespace was officially handing over the main operating luxury cabin segments to the Space Hotel.

Representatives of the NACA shareholders, who were ushered in with white gloves, applauded the loudest, even though their shares were less than 4%.

However, with the forthcoming NASDAQ listing of the Eastern International Space Hotel, and leveraging Eastern International’s exclusive and substantial space assets, this meager shareholding could leverage a significant amount of funding. It could enable some top NACA officials to make a fortune, securing a comfortable life for their latter years.

...

"Mr. Xie, this truly is the limit of what we can do," said the sweat-drenched engineer from a French technology company at the B-level Base, standing in front of a cylindrical machine slightly larger than a household car.

As a traditional industrial power, France had unique advantages in certain areas, such as the production and container manufacturing of high-purity hydrogen and oxygen fuels, leading at the forefront of the world.

When Xie Liaofu began pushing for the lunar fuel extraction system, his first thought was whether he could knock off some excellent technology from the European Space Agency besides his research.

Indeed, there was. These engineers, with their rich experience, joined in the manufacturing of the core components of the electrolytic hydrogen-oxygen machines, successfully keeping the equipment’s weight within the six-ton limit set by Xie Liaofu, and the electrolytic capacity also met the required standard.

The peak power consumption of the entire machine was 35 kilowatts, almost pushing the limits of the nuclear-powered vehicle.

Although Xie Liaofu was quite satisfied, he continued to exert pressure on the French side to try to extract more benefits, but now it appeared that their technology had truly reached its limits.

Of course, this was just a prototype. The version that would be launched to the Moon was still the one that New Yuan, taking advantage of the French technology, confirmed the reliability through optimization at the System Research Institute, but this indeed saved a considerable amount of money.

The rest of the extraction system components, like the high-pressure storage device, faced no technical challenges, and the crushing and purification equipment needed a bit of funding to finalize. Ice mining, along with transportation, was divided into two parts, all set.

The primary challenge was the MTV rocket for upward fuel transport with a capacity of 13 tons, which still posed some difficulties in research; everything else was a minor issue.

Alongside the lunar fuel extraction/transport system, the long-undecided Lunar Orbit Space Station was also being established.

The first two parts of the Artemis program’s "Gateway," the PPE and HALO, had been in lunar orbit for almost a month, and NACA was daily boasting about the advanced nature of the first lunar orbit space station "Gateway."

Like the world’s first three 13KW Hall Thrusters on the PPE, an ultra-large capacity long-range communication system, etc. But in Xie Liaofu’s view, they were hardly worth mentioning.

Spacecraft, after all, is represented by mass and volume.

The Lunar Orbit Space Station as determined by Xie Liaofu was comprised of two sections with a total weight of 67 tons.

One was for storing fuel extracted from the lunar surface, with a capacity for up to 100 tons, while the other was the living supplies and lunar orbit docking module, weighing 50 tons and supporting the stay of eight people.

A single Xinyuan No.2 Rocket and a Xinyuan No.2 Rocket would suffice for the job, and they were neither expensive to build. Already submitted to the Aerospace Development Committee, they were expected to be completed within the year, easily stealing the limelight from the "Gateway."