Chapter 501 - 492 We Need the Moon_1

Tiger Mountain Airport.

This place is hailed as the "holy land of aviation in America," with a permanent resident fleet of over 3,400 civilian aircraft and an enrollment of over 6,100, although more than half belong to Xinyuan Company. It is indeed a paradise for aviation enthusiasts.

In the past two years, it has undergone several rounds of expansion and has been reorganized, carving out a large section dedicated to flight schools.

Today is August 15, and there’s still half a month before the official start of university. However, the students of Xinyuan systems have already gathered here in advance.

All the students in the province from Xinyuan systems, including all departments that have directly established partnerships with the base, receive a completely different treatment than their peers from other schools.

For example, military training - Xinyuan systems do not have military training, or rather, it has been modified into air force training.

The rules of the flight school are basically the same as those of the air force, and the training manual is similar, though greatly simplified due to circumstances - much more comfortable than military training.

The new class totals 1,400 students, much fewer than the current scale. This is the result of the base’s "elite troop strategy." The direct staff are sufficient to maintain annual turnover and expansion - it’s about quality, not quantity.

Hu Dong stood on the podium, his gaze sweeping over the thousand-plus students, with the rotating air force major standing by doing much the same.

Hu Dong, "I say, you in the air force recruit nationwide every year, don’t always be eyeing our place to poach."

Major, "Captain Hu, I’m just looking, just looking."

"..."

Pioneer and Glory returned to Earth on August 12 and 13. Feeling good about himself, Hu Dong came to see this year’s freshmen and give them some inspirational talk. After all, as the commander of H2, his appeal should still be pretty good.

Another important task was to convince the students that pursuing space at Xinyuan had more prospects than joining the air force. In their view, these students, with their excellent academic performance and basic training experience, were naturally born elite pilots. They had never given up on recruiting them.

As the two were talking, a buzzing sound began to drift from afar - the fleet preparing to make an appearance to help boost morale.

To welcome the freshmen, the base had mustered 400 various types of aircraft. After lining up in the distance, they formed a massive, dense formation that flew past at a low altitude of 1,000 meters, their numbers so great that they covered the sky, displaying their power in the most direct way possible.

However, these aircraft were mainly trainers and intermediate trainers, followed by the air force’s welcome gesture. Being close to unit 611, they managed to convene 24 J20s, along with 2 Y20s and 4 Y9s, flying in formation.

Though their numbers were fewer than the previous group, the cheers they received were no less enthusiastic.

Both flying formations did not perform aerial stunts or trailing smoke; they simply flew by at a low altitude, yet it still pushed the atmosphere to a climax.

Taking the opportunity, Hu Dong began to make promises and pep talk, with the major occasionally chiming in to promote the air force.

As the weather today was relatively cool, Hu Dong decided to stay after firing up the students and interact with them - among them could be his future apprentices!

The students were clearly very excited to interact with an astronaut like him, but the first question Hu Dong heard was somewhat unexpected.

"Teacher Hu, United Mining said yesterday that they want to buy hydrogen bombs to detonate on the Moon. Will we be flying spacecraft to drop nuclear bombs in the future?"

The question immediately sparked a lively discussion among the other students; after all, it was big news and the topic of debate all over the world.

Hu Dong, "I think that’s unlikely. After all, diving to bomb in space, where there is no atmosphere, would be a bit challenging."

This little joke brought a round of laughter. However, the question itself was not very serious, so everyone was quite happy with the response.

Another student stood up:

"Teacher Hu, will we all have a chance to go to space?"

Hu Dong, "Of course, your future workplace will be in space. Just Yushu No.1 Base alone can accommodate 1,000 people, not to mention the Cold Palace, future Mars missions, super space stations... 10,000 people wouldn’t be enough. You’ll eventually miss the Earth’s surface.

This is no joke. Even at the current fastest speeds, a trip to Mars takes a year. With work assignments included, a single business trip could last two years. For farther destinations like Jupiter and Saturn, the mission cycle might be ten years."

"Can we speed that up a bit, like by developing better spaceships...?"

Hu Dong, "The base is currently working hard on this. We already possess the world’s most advanced nuclear engines and are still striving to develop stronger and faster models. In the future, people will be able to travel the Solar System within a month."

"..."

The interaction session continued for an hour. Before leaving, the principal of the flight school, responsible for the new students, stopped him:

"Captain Hu, how should the visits be scheduled for these new students? The base has tightened up security, and President Ye hasn’t approved it."

Hu Dong scratched his head. There would definitely be visits, but they would need preparation to ensure secrecy, especially since the base was undergoing the OGAS 2.0 upgrade; it was a bit of a hassle at the moment.

"I’ll ask the president; he’s the only one who can decide on this matter."

"Sure, we appreciate your help."

...

The press conference had a bigger impact than anticipated, even overshadowing the heated trend surrounding "Xuehu."

Lin Ju strongly suspected it was a decoy thrown out by his superiors to shift public attention. Setting off hydrogen bombs on the Moon - and not just any, but many, large-yield hydrogen bombs - naturally drew widespread focus.

Following the conference, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization immediately expressed their opposition. They not only regarded it as a blatant violation of the Outer Space Treaty, but also warned of its extremely negative impact.

The incumbent Secretary-General of the United Nations, a Luzon person, even denounced the move as "naked military expansion," a "tremendously irresponsible act against humanity’s future," a conspiracy by "certain forces trying to subvert peace," and so on.

Environmental organizations and other international groups also took a clear stance in opposition, claiming this brought "human destruction" into space. They were even more strongly against United Mining’s lunar mining activities, believing it affected the Moon’s ecological environment, disrupted the harmonious space, and could potentially have a significant impact on the tides, endangering humanity.

In other countries, especially the Island Country, opposition was most vehement. These nations proclaimed that "the 21st century is not the era of nuclear bombs," asserting that humanity should completely abandon nuclear weapons, under no circumstances use them, and continue to reduce their numbers.

So, what was the public reaction?

The day after the conference, America saw large-scale protests, with the main demand being:

"We need the moon."

The simple American public believed that hydrogen bombs would blow the Moon to pieces, and then no one would have a Moon to see anymore.