Chapter 612 - 600: Coincidence

Qiongzhou.

The Tengyun Aeronautic Aircraft was towed to the starting point of the runway at Xinyuan Launch Site, undergoing the final checks before takeoff.

Since the end of the month before last, it had been moved here, and the Aerospace Development Committee utilized the greatest force to complete the construction of supporting facilities at the fastest speed. This allowed Tengyun to take off near the equator, managing to slightly improve its performance.

However, the primary reason it was hustled out of the mainland was the unanimous protest from the base and the residents—this thing was too disruptive.

Not to mention that on its southward journey, it passed over densely populated areas causing a ruckus once a week, severely impacting the daily life of the base. As a result, Tengyun was ruthlessly banished to Qiongzhou.

From here, its takeoff mostly passed over vast seas, only perhaps crossing over a few islands of Luzon, finally sparing the mainland residents from the sky-tearing roars.

Starting from October, Tengyun had already completed 11 flight missions, ferrying 214 individuals to space, renewing the world record for manned flights at an astonishing pace.

Had it not been for the Aerospace Development Committee conducting a special midterm check for assurance, it could have even flown a couple more shifts.

Still, the Aerospace Development Committee ultimate didn’t push the airframe to its design limits, setting the "weekly flight" as the target, requiring the execution of one mission per week. Both the military and the space agency were loath to let go of this pioneering Aero-Space Plane.

Cheap, convenient, safe, and reusable, the combination of CZ-7 and Dawn Spaceship seemed somewhat less appealing compared to it. There were even suggestions of retiring traditional spacecraft and small spaceplanes to fully build large aero-space planes.

Although the Aerospace Development Committee didn’t make a statement, the Shenyang Aviation Group in Fengtian had already begun constructing a new factory leveraging the Great Wall One—the future focus will be the production of space apparatus, including aero-space planes and spaceplanes. Clearly, the upper echelons had this idea as well.

Deng Lei caressed the hand-operated rudder with a feeling of indescribable satisfaction.

Now the time was 14:00 on the 19th. Just three hours ago, the cargo bay carrying 120 tons of hydrogen and oxygen fuel had launched successfully and was expected to reach lunar orbit by the 23rd to dock with the Black Rabbit Space Station.

This time, the Tengyun carried four astronauts, including himself and Li Wei. They would travel to the Tiangong Space Station aboard the aero-space plane, then transfer to the Dawn One Spaceship docked there to check in early at the Black Rabbit Space Station.

Afterwards, Dawn One would return to the Tiangong Space Station and after being refueled by a cargo spacecraft, would fly to the Moon with nine more crew members on the 26th to carry out an exploratory mission.

Before that, the Jiuzhang Spaceship, having unloaded its cargo, would return to lunar orbit to dock with the Black Rabbit Space Station to refuel. The astronauts who arrived early would also conduct checks and familiarize themselves with its operations.

Of course, the most important was a landing mission. The deadline set by the system was just ten days away; any further delay would mean the window for the mission would close...

Arriving earlier would also allow the exploration team members more time to prepare, as after all, the professional astronaut skills of these experts were quite limited.

The Chapter 9 exploratory mission was expected to last 15 to 20 days with a total of 13 people. All the fuel was sufficient for Jiuzhang to carry a significant amount of cargo to complete four landings and take-offs. They would proceed with three landing missions, each composed of a team of two astronauts and three experts.

Each landing was planned to last 3 to 5 days on the Moon, which should be enough to complete the preliminary survey tasks.

The living accommodation for the personnel stationed on the Moon during the stay would be entirely within the Jiuzhang spacecraft, as its large living cabin could accommodate up to 12 people. Providing for the survival of five people was no problem at all.

After the Chapter 9 mission conclusion and return, only the first batch of explorers would proceed. Four astronauts would remain at the Black Rabbit Space Station, awaiting additional astronauts and supplies to arrive.

Especially the urgently manufactured prefabricated habitat segments—they would jointly construct the first long-term camp on the Moon until considering a return possibly after completing the Chapter 10 mission.

But Deng Lei was aware of the current spirit at United Mining. To account for those wildly draining funds, the current CEO Wu Yi seemed to almost wish to rush to the Moon herself to mine.

Word on the street was that United Mining had been laden with high hopes by the authorities, expecting to be able to go public on the A-share market to improve the continuously poor stock index and to stop the constant defense of the Shanghai Composite Index around 3100 points.

Deng had no doubt about this, having recently watched many videos by an expert surnamed Li, preparing to buy in heavily at the current 3240 points.

Just the thought of seeing a sea of red while celebrating the Lunar New Year on the Moon was simply...

"01, runway is clear, airspace condition is good, clear for takeoff!"

"Heh... Roger that!"

He was jolted back to reality by the voice from the tower. After a quick scan of the dashboard, he pushed the throttle all the way forward and then released the wheel brakes.

The climb was as smooth and forceful as ever, with numbers on the altimeter whizzing by.

When the color of the sky shifted from light blue to navy, then turned into the profound blackness, he knew he was back in space.

Moon, here I come again.

Deng murmured to himself but suddenly thought of the Artemis III mission.

The third hydrogen bomb explosion and the launch of Artemis III were both scheduled for the 20th, but weren’t actually on the same day.

According to the messages circulating on the base’s internal web forum, the cleanup plan was scheduled for 11:00 in the morning of the 20th by the Pacific Fleet’s daytime, which follows the Eastern Hemisphere’s timing. The Artemis III mission was set for Central American time on the 20th, which was actually early in the morning of the 21st in the Eastern Hemisphere, about a half-day later.

Artemis III was expected to arrive at the Moon around the 25th and probably conduct the landing mission on the 26th or 27th, which are the Eve of Peace in America. Meanwhile, their re-inspection and landing on Jiuzhang were also around those two days. So... after five months, had the timing of the two lunar teams coincided once more?

This question triggered deep contemplation in Deng, who then shared it with Li Wei beside him, plunging him into thought as well.

Li Wei suddenly recalled something he heard from his relative’s child some time ago... it was something like, "red and blue make a CP"?

Two moon landing missions so close together, luck could no longer be ignored.

"Big Li, do you think we should drop by for a visit? It’s just a push on the accelerator in the moon rover, won’t take much time."

"That’s..."

Li Wei thought for quite some time before saying uncertainly,

"It probably depends on their willingness, but it’s doable. I too would like to see what their lander looks like."

He was clearly interested as well. After all, the Chapter missions were all purely commercial and not particularly sensitive.

"I think they would agree, but we might have to wait a while. During the Apollo program, NACA locked the speed limit at 25 kilometers per hour to prevent astronauts from speeding. I wonder if they’ve unlocked it now.

Wait a second, maybe we could pretend to drive the excavator over and threaten to dismantle their lander?"