Chapter 420 - 411 God Bless Yankee_1

As the "U-Tu" Core Module was launched — that is, on the evening of June 25th by America time, the "Blue Moon" lander ascended from launch pad LC-39A aboard the Heavy Falcon.

The crew of Artemis II touched the lander that would carry them to the moon before its fairing closed, praying silently for themselves.

Every astronaut was a qualified engineer; they were keenly aware of how hastily their spacecraft was assembled and were cognizant of the imminent dangers they faced.

"But not as big as those Neil and Buzz faced, right?"

Claire, standing behind the camera, watched as three men and a woman in orange space suits took a group photo beneath a giant flag and said these words to encourage them.

"You’re heroes, whether you make it to the moon or not. If conditions do not permit and the landing needs to be canceled, no one will be blamed. The astronaut’s life is the most important."

Then he paused, "If there is an accident, the Artemis II accident investigation team would have to spend at least a year at our headquarters. So please be responsible for your lives. I also assure you with my honor that even if the plan is accelerated, all launch preparations and inspection procedures have not been compromised; there will be no launch with defects!"

In the direction visible from the window where the five people stood, the urgently delivered SLS rocket was being erected in the night, with some detectable checks already underway, in an effort to shorten the preparation time as much as possible.

Reid Wiseman: "But taking risks is also part of history."

"As astronauts, we constantly take risks. Space is full of dangers, and even a slight mishap can cost us our lives," the African-American astronaut Victor added.

"That won’t happen," Claire patted Victor on the shoulder. Although he was African-American, he was one of the few pilots who was an excellent engineer and did not have the displeasing quality often attributed to his race.

"HALO and PPE have already been launched there; at least you will be very safe in that place."

Unlike Dawn III, the Artemis II mission’s landing procedure involved the launch of "Blue Moon" and the in-orbit fueling dock, which would dock in lunar orbit to transfer fuel. Then the former would maneuver to dock with HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) at the "Portal" space station, awaiting the Orion spacecraft carrying four astronauts to dock with HALO.

After that, the astronauts would transfer to the "Blue Moon," complete the moon landing mission, and then return back to dock with HALO.

The entire mission would require four dockings and three separations. However, due to advances in electronic technology, this was not a big problem.

Just as in the original timeline the six CZ-5 rockets slowly put together pieces to "assemble" a lunar lander, advancements in orbital docking technology since the new century had significantly reduced the demands on rocket capability.

The "Portal" and "U-Tu" serve as additional safety measures for the astronauts landing on the moon.

"But the ’Portal’ only has less than 4 cubic meters of space, not 4 square meters, 4 cubic meters, and it weighs 8 tons. Why does their ’U-Tu’ weigh 50 tons?"

Watching Victor rebut ungratefully, Claire silently marked him with the recently abolished label of his race.

The question wasn’t Victor’s original. Just the other day, the parliament questioned why "U-Tu’s" total budget was less than 30% of "Portal’s" yet was so much larger.

Those who ask such questions are blinded by the exchange rate; a rivet costs 1 RMB overseas, and when transported, it becomes 1 US Dollar, while domestically produced in America, it would cost at least 3 US Dollars. Furthermore, the labor cost to install that rivet is at least three to five times higher than that of the other side.

Therefore, every time Claire heard people say that with only 1/10 of the budget they managed to do so much, it completely disregarded the economic situation in America. Although the expenditure was indeed much higher, it definitely wasn’t as exaggerated as was stated.

Now John is vigorously promoting "Made in America" to replace "Made in China," and it is said that in the second half of the year’s negotiations, he will request the central bank to adjust the RMB exchange rate upward. At that time, the comparison won’t be as stark.

It is said that John is quite dissatisfied with the 6.8 exchange rate and believes that an exchange rate of 3 to 4 RMB to 1 US Dollar would be more reasonable.

Distracted by Victor’s backtalk, Claire impassively skipped the topic and continued to give a pep talk to the astronauts, urging them to rest before promptly heading to the launch site.

Boeing and Lockheed, the two largest contractors, also put forth their best efforts, sending in their elite teams of engineers to rush the work nonstop, now conducting the final check on the "orange canister."

He found the person in charge at Boeing and asked bluntly how long it would take to launch.

The other party held up a palm.

"Five days to complete the test procedures, plus some parameters that couldn’t be corrected before leaving the factory; then it will take half a day to fuel up and launch."

Claire: "Three days, including the launch, means it must be possible to launch by June 29, Capital time— even half a day earlier would do."

Without waiting for the other party to shake their head, Claire continued:

"If you treat one day as if it were three and rotate work shifts, that’s nine days. There’s enough time."

"We are already doing that. Five days is already the limit after compression, and we’ve reached maximum staffing capacity here."

"Then treat one day as if it were five. Whatever you need, Brazilian dancers or Cuban cigars? Just not... whatever it is, we can accommodate. We need victory, God bless the Yankees."

...

B-level Base.

The CEO’s office, Ye Changsi, looking exasperated with a black line on his forehead, pointed vigorously at the innocent-looking Xiao Okada: "You, you, you..."

Then he turned his head to look at Lin Ju, who was amused, and said in horror:

"No way, how could they use my name?"

Xiao Okada: "President Ye, no one can cover up your great achievements!"

"Past life deeds don’t count!"

The two continued to bicker, while Lin Ju meticulously reviewed the planetary probe plan submitted by Xiao Okada:

"Descendants" Solar Probe: A 1500-kilogram solar probe, will explore the Sun’s surface and skim over the corona at high speed to collect more detailed data on solar activity;

"Golden Crow" Mercury Probe: 3400 kilograms, aimed at exploring Mercury;

"Changsi" Asteroid Probe: 5400 kilograms, to explore the "Lingxi Star" asteroid located between Mars and Jupiter;

These three probes, intended to explore the Sun, Mercury, and the asteroid belt respectively, with the "Lingxi Star" mission primarily surveying its resources, show that this metallic asteroid, composed mostly of iron, nickel, and gold, weighs up to 270 billion tonnes—paving the way for future development explorations.

All three of these are routine exploration missions within the asteroid belt.

Exploring beyond the asteroid belt, towards bodies like Saturn and Jupiter, is currently impracticable due to both distance—time taken to travel is too long—and it’s better to wait for future nuclear propulsion devices to become cheaper before launching. Besides, those regions are currently out of reach.

Back in the day, NACA’s "Traveler" and other deep-space probes were launched to take advantage of a rare alignment of the Solar System’s major planets in a row, which allowed gravitational assists at each planet to accelerate. Now, sending rockets there directly is too slow and not worthwhile.