Chapter 584 - 572: Take Action Again

"I announce that the launch and recovery mission of CZ-18 Yaoyi rocket has been a complete success!"

At 6:27 on the morning of December 10th, half an hour after the launch command was issued, a Big Shot in the Capital formally announced the mission’s success at the press conference.

However, he did not pay attention to the enthusiastic reporters and left the scene, leaving Shen Zuozhou to handle it.

More than an hour later, he saw Wu Yi and Ye Changsi, who had been waiting outside the United Mining Headquarters for a while.

"I’m not late, am I?"

"Of course not, everyone’s been waiting for you."

Today, both Ye Changsi and Wu Yi had serious expressions on their faces, and their eyes were slightly bloodshot.

After the successful maiden flight of the CZ-18, United Mining was about to hold a mobilization meeting for the subsequent Skylight series of missions.

This meeting was mainly for engineers who had been transferred from the space agency; the number was not large, only 54 people.

According to the arrangements and coordination of the Aerospace Development Committee, the construction tasks for Cold Palace No.1 Base and Yushu No.1 Base were highly overlapping, and both personnel and equipment needed to be utilized as much as possible.

And the personnel for the two construction projects were divided into permanent and non-permanent types, with different approaches to each.

Permanent personnel included all professional astronauts, as well as some engineers (payload specialists); non-permanent personnel were, for example, various experts who would need to go to the Moon for inspections, and their mission time was relatively short.

After discussions by the Aerospace Development Committee, they decided to professionalize the young and robust payload specialists among the permanent personnel as astronauts, but different from professional astronauts, they would essentially only be responsible for profession-related tasks when on a mission.

In the Aerospace Development Committee’s plans, the priority of the Cold Palace No.1 Base built jointly with the Huayin Organization did not rank as high as Yushu No.1 Base, which was planned to develop into a self-sufficient industrial base, with both larger personnel and scale.

At that time, the space agency realized a problem: New Yuan had thousands of engineers who had qualified as backup astronauts and could easily dispatch a portion to the Moon. The space agency, however, faced difficulties.

Although there were many professional astronauts with solid professional skills, they were obviously not as capable as true engineers, and to station the latter on the Moon for long periods required substantial astronautical knowledge education.

So, three months earlier, the space agency had started selecting young engineers who were under 45 years old, in good health, and met professional knowledge standards, then sent them to Institute 507 for crash training, finally obtaining the first batch of 54 semi-professional astronaut-engineers.

Although not comparable to New Yuan’s astonishing number, which is expected to exceed 5000, so many people are entirely sufficient for the initial phase, and following the plan for training more would be able to keep up.

This plan was promoted by the Big Shot himself, so he naturally had reasons to say something to these national team players about to participate in real space development.

However, Ye Changsi and Wu Yi knew there was another important reason: the Big Shot was about to be transferred, and the space agency was facing a major reshuffle.

The Big Shot was to be transferred to the Science and Technology Committee, and there were rumors that Academician She’s duties would remain unchanged, but he would also step back from front-line work.

It was normal for Academician She to step back from front-line work; he was nearly 80 years old and could hardly undertake research tasks anymore. As for the reason for the Big Shot’s transfer, Wu Yi probably knew something—it might be related to the top’s plan to adjust the direction of space development, and the new director was very likely to come from a nuclear technology background.

The top echelons had always been aware that New Yuan’s next development focus was on nuclear propulsion. CZ-18 also signaled that New Yuan had taken chemical rocket technology as far as it could go. Next, if they wanted to make breakthroughs, the costs wouldn’t be proportional, so there was no reason the space agency should not switch tracks.

The Big Shot’s speech was not long, and after it ended, he found Ye Changsi alone.

"Changsi, what are your plans next?"

Ye Changsi paused for a moment, then naturally said:

"Of course, it’s to exploit the Moon, with so many mineral resources. New Yuan has put everything into it.

The long term goal is to exploit Mars, and from there, seize the resources of the asteroid belt. However, that should probably wait until the Moon Base is well established before we can proceed."

The Big Shot kept staring into Ye Changsi’s eyes, trying to find something, but the latter’s countenance remained normal, even showing a somewhat puzzled expression that was quite appropriate.

He ultimately gave up on the idea of finding a flaw in the exchange and said as usual:

"Space exploration is a daunting and complex undertaking that requires not just advanced technology but also strong control and execution abilities. New Yuan has done very well in this regard..."

He struggled briefly in his mind but still said the latter part:

"So well that it doesn’t seem like a company, your vision does not seem like that of a typical company. I’ve never seen such a company."

"It’s because space has given us a mission, and all of us are united in this goal."

Ye Changsi replied very seriously, and intuition led the Big Shot to believe that it was a heartfelt truth, but it did not resolve the doubts in his heart.

If he weren’t about to be transferred, he would not have rashly asked these questions.

But now he was somewhat regretful; he should have known he would not get an answer.

"Then... I hope everything goes smoothly for you."

After saying this, he quickly left, not even closing the door behind him.

Ye Changsi stood in place looking at the empty hallway, feeling slightly more relaxed.

This private probe had also made him very nervous, and he recalled the photos of Zero Plain taken by "Departing Fire."

The probe had conducted a comprehensive investigation of that area over the past nearly two months, but it had still found nothing, and this unknown fear always lingered above the base, just like the fog that the Big Shot saw on them.

...

Florida, Kennedy Space Center.

Launch Complex 39A is already in its opened state, and a large group of space center staff are performing maintenance and checks, getting ready for the upcoming launch mission.

Victor Glover, who had just finished watching the live broadcast of CZ-18, stood with hands on hips on the lawn outside the launch pad, next to him was Reid Wiseman.

Just five months ago, they had completed the Artemis II mission, but now they were about to embark into space again.

"It’s a shame about Koch; she’s an excellent astronaut."

Victor thought of Koch, who had been assigned to the Astronaut Training Center. If not for the insistence of their fellow astronauts, she might even have been forced to retire.

Wiseman: "I don’t believe she has mental issues either, but... anyway, we’ll find out everything on this trip up there, right, Commander?"

The last title made Victor chuckle. Thanks to the outstanding performance of the Artemis II mission and the temporary absence of a better candidate, NACA had decided to let the Artemis II crew continue to carry out the Artemis III landing mission, and Victor had also become the first Black commander.

"Yes, and... ten more days. Oh, I hope I don’t miss my boat to Edo. I can’t miss the nuclear explosion."