Chapter 384 - 376 Fly to the Moon_1

The Storm’s space station installation mission was completed in just 12 days, but they still needed to test the shuttle.

First up was power supply capability.

The March’s power consumption was not low, with the six living modules along with the navigation and function modules consuming over 1000 kilowatts, requiring at least 3000 kilowatts of generating capacity once complete.

The primary source of power was the nuclear reactors carried by each of the six service modules, which could provide ample electricity while also powering the nuclear engines—though not yet available.

Currently, the March was powered by a temporary single-sided solar panel hanging on a truss, capable of supplying 200 kilowatts. Although modest, it was sufficient for the space station, which was not yet formally in operation, and would be dismantled after completion.

After docking with Storm, it attempted to supply power to the space station, and, of course, the result was celebratory. The three A100s had a maximum generating capacity of 4 MW (limited by the size of the heat dissipation panels, the actual potential was much greater), easily meeting the entire space station’s power needs.

After several more days spent checking the reactors, the astronauts began to tidy up the space station, moving some essential supplies into the shuttle in preparation for a long journey.

Fitted with three nuclear engines, and the fuel remaining over 90%, was it not only proper to have an impromptu trip? Could they just withdraw? Of course not.

The test route was also clear; since Storm couldn’t reach Mars, it could only take a trip around the Moon.

She had taken off with some experimental instruments for Moon orbit testing, already well-prepared, only picking up some living supplies from the March.

"Check cabin pressure, check the docking port seals."

"A1 docking port is ready for separation, can detach!"

When the docking port separated, a small thrust was produced, and Storm slowly moved away from the space station at a few centimeters per second, then the opened cargo bay began to close.

Before this, the deputy commander had gone out to check the heat dissipation panels, confirming they were fully deployed.

The X-shaped heat dissipation panels at the tail of Storm, along with the wings, formed a "米" shape, making her overall appearance less like a shuttle and more like a real spaceship.

Hu Dong pressed his earpiece, "Command Center, request to enter Deep Space Mode."

"Storm, you may enter Deep Space Mode after status check."

The ground voice was consistently spirited, that broadcast tone passed down since the founding of the Republic was highly recognizable, involuntarily taking people’s feelings back to that burning era.

Upon receiving authorization from the ground, the computer switched from near-Earth orbit mode to Deep Space Mode, where flight control mode and safety standards would be switched, and the center of gravity would be automatically detected and adjusted.

All seven astronauts secured themselves, SC09 passed the check, and Hu Dong felt the back of his chair dragging him into a recline, his legs lifted, with his line of sight almost perpendicular to the porthole.

The console in front of him also began to move; what seemed to be a fixed console was, in fact, four movable panels. To better suit the operations of deep space flight, they began to separate, encasing the two commanding officers at the front in a C-shape, and different status panels hung from the five seats behind them.

In an emergency, any of the operational panels could serve as a control station, one of many safety redundancies of Storm, something that the Pioneer and Glory did not have.

Hu Dong naturally placed his hands on the control panels on either side, the large panel in front fine-tuning itself to track his eyeballs, ensuring optimal display.

On the inside wall of the porthole behind it, a pale blue laser projected the HUD onto the large windows; the entire Storm had now officially transformed into a spacecraft.

"Old Hu, I really feel like I’m sitting inside a spaceship. It seems like if I were to push the throttle, the stars would slide from in front to the side."

Deputy Commander Meng Senlin spoke candidly over the public radio about his feelings, surrounded by the vast expanse of the porthole window which wrapped around him with a wide view. After adjusting his seat, the cosmos was half a meter closer to him, almost placing him amid the stars.

He was not an astronaut trained by New Yuan, nor was he originally part of the Storm Crew—the crew for Storm’s maiden flight was completely different from the initial plan, with three members from the Dawn No.4 crew, and Meng Senlin was the commander of the Dawn No.4 mission.

The Dawn No.4 mission was the space agency’s planned first lunar landing mission group, and he would be the first Chinese person to set foot on the Moon.

The debut speed of the Storm disrupted the space agency’s arrangement, so they consulted the base to change the Storm Crew, incorporating members from Dawn No.4 into it.

Fortunately, the Dawn No.4 crew had also undergone H2 simulation training, so the personnel change did not affect the mission.

The purpose of the space agency’s move was simple: to allow the Dawn No.4 crew to fly around the Moon once in advance to gain more experience.

Meng Senlin now felt that it might be better to ride the Storm for the first lunar landing than to board the Dawn Spaceship.

Even though the Dawn Spaceship had seen a significant improvement compared to traditional spacecraft, it was still a conventional space vehicle, and being inside it felt like driving a small RV on a trip—it was complete and comfortable; whereas the Storm felt more like flying a house in the sky to your destination.

In all, it was an inter-generational leap.

Meng Senlin carefully felt the grip of the throttle valve to his right, saw the HUD in the lower-left corner of his visor indicating that his heartbeat was slightly high.

For safety, during acceleration and deceleration on the Storm, it was still necessary to wear the spacesuit and visor inside the cabin in case any deformation of the spacecraft or vibration of components occurred and caused unknown faults during the acceleration process.

"Command center, Storm has completed the self-check, the reactor is running well, all cooling panels are opened normally, requesting to proceed with the lunar orbiting mission."

The radio waves traveled back to the ground command center in the Capital through the satellite. Lin Ju stood in front of the microphone, paused for a second, and then shouted energetically:

"Command approved, you may accelerate!"

"Yes!"

Academician She’s gaze shifted to the satellite telemetry system, and then he heard the voice of Hu Dong from above.

"Storm, March One!"

The propulsion system was powered, and after distancing from March by nearly two hundred meters through RCS, Storm started its engines at 10% power, with pale pink hydrogen plasma spreading out along the nozzle. The external camera on the March spotted a pink halo lighting up in the darkness at the tail of the aerospace plane.

Storm trembled slightly and pushed itself a little further away from the space station with a gentle acceleration until it reached a distance of 1000 meters, when Hu Dong moved the throttle to the third notch.

"Storm, March Three!"

March One was for low-power departure, March Two was the most fuel-efficient cruising speed, March Three was the normal maximum power top speed, and the March Four that Hu Dong had dreamed about for dozens of nights was the command for overloaded engine acceleration at the design limit.

Although he could only use March Three now, according to the plan, a maximum speed test would be done on the return journey, at which point the March Four command would be used.

The three huge tail nozzles finally began to spew out bright plasma at top speed, forming a flame tail over a kilometer long in space. From the camera on the March, the three bright points started merging and gradually became one.

Storm would accelerate around low Earth orbit for about two circles, then enter the Earth-Moon transfer orbit, proceeding from Earth’s right side to the Moon’s left side, and the return trajectory would be the reverse, making an ’8’ shape in total.

With a tail flame over ten times her own length, she headed towards the Moon like a shooting star.