Chapter 529 - 518 Thunderstorm_1

"Power generation 100%, wing surface temperature 7, control surface movement normal, fuel supply 105%..."

Wang Yan rapidly reported the manually checked data, Chang Lihai also compared each item with the AI’s self-check report, and after confirming everything matched, he released the brake on the landing gear and gently pushed the throttle to 10%.

The reporters outside the airport, fixated on the scene, saw the Tengyun Airship’s body gently lower forward, followed by the ejection of dark blue flames from the rear of the fuselage, which was extremely conspicuous even under the sunlight.

Susanna screamed along with the crowd while also noticing the surge in the live stream’s viewership.

The viewership in the live stream started growing when the Aerospace Plane exited the hangar; after all, CBS has a vast influence worldwide, and at this moment it is the only foreign media providing a live broadcast from the scene, attracting hordes from everywhere.

Among them was Director Robert, full of question marks in his head.

When he saw Tengyun with its flaps down and its engines started, his mind went blank.

He remembered that time at the Pentagon, right after the "8·12" incident, when the Air Force nicknamed that mysterious plane "Thunderstorm".

After all, a nickname is closely related to the manufacturer of the plane, the current situation, and its own characteristics. Snow Goose’s first impression was of speed, an unprecedented velocity for the Air Force, and second was the particularly loud, rumbling noise along the way, which made "Thunderstorm" a fitting description.

During this time, the Pentagon was one hundred percent certain that "Thunderstorm" had not flown again. This merely required a bit of attention to China’s publicly available information.

Having witnessed the 12-Mach monster, the Air Force became frantic, demanding the revival of last century’s aborted SR91 "Goddess of Dawn", which was designed for 6 Mach, although still only half of "Thunderstorm"’s speed.

Lockheed Martin, which had proposed the project before, did indeed take on the task, but SR91 had been rejected in 1985, and there were only some rough specifications, with almost the need to start from scratch—quite the headache.

At that time, they sought help from NACA, which expressed interest because "Thunderstorm" had shown them the feasibility of an Aero-Space Plane.

60,000 meters at 12 Mach, this already met or even exceeded the needs of an Aero-Space Plane in the atmospheric phase, showing great potential to fly beyond the atmosphere.

Unbelievably, just over a month later, while Rom was still agonizing over whether the power for SR91 should be conventional or nuclear and had no concrete idea about the design, the Chinese had already turned his concept into reality.

Furthermore, after seeing the Tengyun’s fuselage, Robert was even more astonished; he tried very hard to find parts that looked like they could be discarded but realized that the entire plane was designed to be sleek and natural, with no need for any boosters to be jettisoned.

This was a bona fide Aero-Space Plane that required no boosters and could take every single one of its parts into space—more radical than he had imagined and also earlier to debut.

Robert dared not imagine the degree of transformation the emergence of this craft would bring to the aerospace industry; at the very least, it added a significant amount of possibility to those crazy space programs across the sea, potentially greatly reducing the cost of getting into space on top of that offered by reusable rockets.

And thinking about the Mars landing plan that was still at the discussion stage, it felt very much like he was still posing to start running, while the other side was already accelerating towards the finish line.

If the current state of global aerospace was likened to a race, 90% of the players did not even qualify to compete, over half of the remaining 10% could only stand on the track without the energy to run, and amongst the few moving strenuously, the one in second place was half a body length behind third, while the one in first place was already lapping them.

Even Robert, who had a bit of distrust in God, began to pray unorthodoxly, hoping Jesus would exert some divine might for the sake of His people and allow success for the Aero-Space Plane; otherwise, NACA would truly begin to fall far behind.

While he was praying anxiously, Chang Lihai had fully confirmed that the aircraft was in good condition and ready to take off.

The tower immediately relayed the message to the walkie-talkie on Xie Liaofu’s chest:

"Commander, Tengyun is ready for takeoff."

"Clear the runway, I can’t wait to see it fly!"

Right after Xie Liaofu finished speaking, the Big Shot grabbed the walkie-talkie, pressed the talk button:

"Mr. Lin, where are you?"

After a few seconds of static, Lin Ju’s voice came through:

"I’m at the top of the control tower, there’s an automatic tracking camera here, it’s the best."

The big shot looked up at the control tower, squinting slightly from the glare of the light, then continued to pick up the walkie-talkie:

"Are we really watching the plane (emphasizing the word), or are we watching a beauty?"

"..."

Lin Ju hurriedly checked to confirm that he wasn’t on a public channel, but at least a dozen people could still hear him. He let out a breath of relief but was rendered speechless.

"What did you say? I didn’t quite catch that."

"If I’m not mistaken, there should be four ears listening over there."

After saying this, the big shot immediately gestured for a hush to the people next to him, then a few people huddled together to reduce the interference from the loud engine of Tengyun Airship.

As expected, a piercing scream of "ah" came through the walkie-talkie, prompting a smile from several aging chief engineers and researchers.

On the other side, Lin Ju’s face was also lined with frustration. He was just staying at the base, not going anywhere; it shouldn’t be happening.

"How did you know? Did Xie Liaofu spill the beans?"

"Hey, the experts at the aerospace bureau aren’t blind. Since when did Mr. Lin go wandering around with a female assistant? I did the same thing with your Aunt Jiang thirty years ago."

"..."

Atop the 360-degree enclosed observation deck of the control tower, Lin Ju tossed the walkie-talkie aside and pulled Yu Man, who was looking down at the floor seams, back to the tracking camera screen.

"Old men act like this when they age. Don’t mind them prattling about their degrees; they’re no different from the old guys downstairs. Just ignore them."

"Ah... isn’t that a bit disrespectful to them?"

"I actually think they would respect you more."

"..."

Their eyes met, and Yu Man went back to counting floor seams.

...

As Tengyun Airship gradually increased engine power, there was a commotion in the sky. Two twin-seat J-20Bs roared past; they would provide escort for a short while. After all, the faster Tengyun Airship climbed, the more fuel it saved, and it would soon surpass the Mach 3 barrier.

After the two fighter jets whooshed by, the noise from Tengyun Airship on the ground also suddenly increased. Ten engine nozzles spat out flames longer than those of a conventional aero-engine because they were so close that it looked like they were connected.

When taking off from the ground, they could provide 70 tons of thrust; at high altitudes, even up to 110 tons. The 190-ton airship didn’t seem cumbersome; it glided out smoothly as soon as the brakes were released.

Although both had been designed with ultra-high altitude and high speed in mind, Tengyun Airship’s design was obviously more conservative. This was mainly to make concessions to the storage of cryogenic fuel and to reduce overall manufacturing costs, whereas Xuehu adopted a delta body plus central lift body configuration.

The roar of the engines fueled by methane was different from conventional aero-engines; they weren’t as shrill and carried more of the brute force inherited from rocket technology. The sound of ten engines stacked together drowned out all other noise at the airport.

The large grey-white airship hurriedly swept past the dense crowd by the runway, pulling up for ascent only at the 3700-meter mark of the runway. In that instant, the flames trailing in one line from its engines grew longer and brighter, clearly engaging the afterburners.

Its heading now pointed southeast; it could keep accelerating and climbing straight in that direction.