Chapter 380 - 372: Testing_1

"How much longer until the Forward Space Station is finished being built?"

"Soon, soon..."

On board the Forward Space Station, Storm’s commanding officer Hu Dong was video communicating with the ground, and the person he was talking to was Guo Fan.

Although Director Guo was from the entertainment industry, he had a certain level of fame at the base. A number of engineers had participated in the prop design or conceptual planning of ’Wandering Earth’ during their spare time. This movie, which had been in production for over a year, was widely acknowledged as what would be an extraordinarily grand sci-fi film.

The film’s runtime was expected to approach or even exceed 200 minutes, which had Guo Fan wondering whether to split it into two parts because it might not be suitable for the new year’s season if it were released as a whole.

But the shooting was actually almost finished, and what followed would be special effects production and editing.

Of course, there was also the space filming part, which had been promoted so heavily by the film crew that it had sparked international interest. The crew was now secretly competing over how many people could go up.

There definitely could not be too many, at most seven, but Guo Fan had already decided to shoot all the content for the space station’s pilot in space. So having too few people seemed not enough to handle it, which meant they had to bring in some extras—such as the astronauts currently in space.

Hu Dong felt that the space station could be completed by October to November at the earliest, and at least 10 launch missions were still needed, which meant there was a chance his crew could be involved.

Guo Fan, "7+7, fourteen people include me, four crew members, three actors and seven extras. Commanding Officer Hu, could you take a look at some acting pointers during your free time..."

"..."

Although he knew Guo Fan was joking, Hu Dong still nodded and agreed, then quickly came up with an idea:

"Director Guo, why don’t you ask Mr. Lin for a cameo as well?"

Guo Fan, "Yeah, when we were shooting last year I added an extra role... oh, you mean?"

Guo Fan immediately realized what was implied, and the command center at the base understood it too. The Beijing ground control center listening in also caught on.

"Hu Dong, you’re leading people astray...ah no, flattering the CEO!"

The individual currently managing the Beijing command center was Academician She. The operations of the Storm Nuclear-Powered Spacecraft were being closely monitored, as this spacecraft would undergo a series of tests after the installation of the second life-support module, thus the person overseeing the operations was of a high rank.

Academician She had long known that New Yuan’s astronauts were overly free-spirited and somewhat "rebellious," but for an old-timer like Hu Dong to act that way indeed made it hard for him to cope.

After the pioneer H2, also known as the Vanguard, entered space, Lin Ju had been eager to try going up himself, and now he might arrange a flight immediately if given an excuse.

However, Hu Dong wasn’t the only sycophant—Guo Fan also realized that if he could make Lin Ju happy, maybe the film crew could send a few more people up. No, the original ground extra role was too low, they needed a space extra!

...

Southern Aeronautical and Astronautical University.

Guest Professor Lin Ju, accompanied by just three others, was wandering through the academic building when he turned a corner and bumped into a student.

"Lin... Senior, hello!"

Lin Ju glanced at the thesis in the student’s hand and knew he was one of this year’s graduates.

"Hello, hello... Did you pass your oral defense, or not yet? If not, why don’t I sit in on it?"

"..."

Fortunately, Lin Ju was just joking. If he really went, it might cause a passable defense to fail, so it was best not to delay others.

Today was Saturday, and not many people were around the university.

Although the school did not know the purpose of Boss Lin’s visit, they still received him warmly and, at his request, brought over the information of the top 100 graduates from the Aerospace Institute this year.

These were all excellent engineering students who had transferred over in their sophomore year and had performed very well since the New Yuan collaboration. The documents described their situations in great detail.

males and 5 females... This ratio closely matches that of engineering specialties. Among them, 77 had obtained jet aircraft pilot licenses, and the rest had at least an intermediate trainer aircraft license. Their physical conditions were all excellent, perfect.

Lin Ju kept nodding, then looked up and said,

"How many teachers from the key disciplines have excellent capabilities and good physical fitness?"

A string of names flashed through Tong Peiqiang’s mind. He thought for a moment and said, "About seven or eight, half of whom we only gradually lured over from other schools last year. Actually, if you’re talking about high levels of competence, it would still be the engineers from the base. Heh, they have much richer practical experience.

What is it, are we selecting reserve astronauts again?"

"No, astronauts."

Tong Peiqiang immediately remembered some rumors from last year when Lin Ju said he wanted to send outstanding graduates and teachers to space using H2. Could it be...

"The base is already manufacturing passenger cabins that can fit into H2M and H2N. If the mission schedule at the Forward Space Station is not too busy, this flight mission will be carried out."

As he spoke, he opened the tablet he carried with him, which displayed the data for the passenger cabin.

As early as last year, when the progress of the H2M was satisfactory around August and September, the base proposed a plan to convert H2 for passenger transport. After continuous argumentation, the passenger cabin plan came out on top.

In other words, a passenger cabin would snugly fill the 35-meter-long, 8.4-meter-wide cargo hold of H2, accessible through a 1.5-meter docking port within the hold.

The passenger cabin itself was light and its technology content was not high at all, with the only slightly challenging issue being power supply, but even that was relatively simple.

Its internal space exceeded 200 square meters, capable of fitting up to 6 rows and 18 columns of seats, which is a carrying capacity of up to 108 people.

Adding to the 5 seats in the cockpit ahead, the H2M could send a maximum of 113 people into space at a time, creating an unmatched record in history.

After viewing the plans for the passenger cabin modification, the leaders of several institutes felt goosebumps all over, and Tong Peiqiang shook his head like a rattle-drum.

"No, no, this... If something goes wrong, the risk is just too great."

Lin Ju: "After the installation of the passenger cabin, there will first be an unmanned launch test for the cabin, and moreover, this technology is itself very safe, with space launches becoming increasingly mature."

"But if an accident occurs, the loss would still be incalculable. I’m not opposing, but... why not choose the Steadfast instead? Seven or eight people are quite a few as well."

"But this would be sending over a hundred people to space in one go; it would be a groundbreaking action, significant in a way no less than the moon landing. It also means that our manned flight has reached a completely new level."

Lin Ju was full of vague and verbose nonsense. This certainly was a small factor, but the real reason was not something that could be mentioned.

Sending more than a hundred people to space at once seemed like something that should be considered a minor event achievement, and it was very possible that this would earn a reward from the system.

To maximize chances of getting more content related to controlled nuclear fusion, the launch vehicle chosen would be the Storm Nuclear-Powered Spacecraft, with the total cost just around seven to eight hundred million.

Swiping through daily tasks while taking a little gamble on this was an acceptable expense for the base.

Tong Peiqiang was silent for a while: "So many people, will flying permission be granted?"

Lin Ju: "No problem, I am the Vice Chairman of the Space Development Committee. I’ll issue it to myself."

"..."