Chapter 715 - 691: The Captain

May 25th.

Li Sheng stared expressionlessly at the profound darkness outside the porthole, silently enduring the acceleration from his seat.

He was now the co-pilot of the Ruiyun Aero-Space Plane, currently traveling to space, more precisely, heading to the Forward Space Station.

Since the end of February, March had been undergoing an unmanned rotational test in space for three months, and it had restarted multiple times, thoroughly verifying the reliability of the gravitational system.

For safety, this occupancy mission still consisted of the same 26 crew members. They could, in a sense, already be considered professional crew of this massive space station, which was completely different from the roles they played in similar previous missions.

Due to the large number of launch tasks in the previous period, the several launch sites temporarily lacked the capability to launch large aerospace planes. This flight mission also required the participation of Tengyun Airship and three H1s: Lightning Number, Unity, and Progress. The two aero-space planes would transport all the astronauts up, while the rest would deliver supplies and equipment.

The Ruiyun, Liuyun, and Tengyun aero-space planes were the beloved treasures of the Aerospace Development Committee and the military - they couldn’t bear to leave them idle for a moment. Hence, the remaining three H1s were all launched to serve as regular shuttles for March.

Lightning Number could only transport cargo and would have to return to Earth after replenishing supplies. Unity and Progress were docked on either side of the station’s functional module, ensuring that the center of gravity remained approximately unchanged while also serving as emergency vehicles.

This was also a current flaw in the structure of the space station: in addition to its own components, when docking with other spacecraft for rotation, balancing had to be considered, and the placement had to be symmetrical with not too large a mass error.

The future docking with H2s would be even more troublesome. For instance, Pioneer and Glory could dock together, but not Storm. Storm was equipped with a nuclear engine, which meant its center of gravity and weight differed from the conventional models, creating significant trouble for the balancing system, consuming too much fuel.

Resolving this issue would have to wait for future renovation plans for March, with the use of an extremely sturdy and highly-sealed giant electromagnetic bearing ring, allowing the central cabin section of the space station to cease rotating, but that was a matter for the distant future.

For the first batch of crew members of March, they didn’t have to worry about these troubles at all. In their era, March represented the forefront of technology and scale.

It was like being a sailor on the ’Dreadnought’ battleship in 1906 – it might have had various flaws and discomforts, but overall, it was the best choice for its time.

Moreover, March had a heavy task, just like the four individuals who had already spent half a year on the Moon. This batch of astronauts aboard March would likely have to stay for the same or even longer periods.

Their job involved not only getting fully acquainted with and exploiting the full potential of this space station but also verifying how long humans could survive in space under a gravitational environment.

The "Isaac Newton" three months ago was just a fleeting presence. Subsequently, America only carried out two experiments, totaling no more than 20 days, because the Gravity Dragon, modified from the Dragon Spaceship, was simply too small.

Meanwhile, March filled with supplies was frighteningly powerful, with a theoretical maximum operational mass of over 3800 tons, meaning there was a whopping 2100 tons of payload redundancy.

The fuel storage limit of March was calculated based on six A100 engines running at full power for 72 hours, plus a 20% redundancy, needing a total of 1000 tons of fuel. The actual storage limit reached around 16,000 cubic meters of liquid hydrogen, roughly 1130 tons of fuel. Most of the solvent in the six service cabins was used for storing liquid hydrogen.

Excluding other consumables accounting for 300 tons, it still meant there was nearly 700 tons of material storage capacity. Based on a daily supply of 10 kilograms of oxygen, water, and food per astronaut, it could support 90 months, which is 7 and a half years.

Even if the crew increased to 50 people and material consumption went up to 15 kilograms, that would still last for 30 months.

Discounting the psychological issues of the astronauts, the limits of March were sufficient for it to complete an exploration of the eight-planet system, marking it as a truly epoch-making product in the history of space flight.

Of course, psychological issues are the real big problem. Sailors on ocean-going vessels during The Age of Great Navigations could not bear the loneliness and would jump into the sea to commit suicide; one can imagine the test of will faced by astronauts living billions of kilometers away from humanity for several years.

According to the instructions Li Sheng had received from Shen Zuozhou before departure, at least 8 to 10 of the 26 crew members were to take part in the "long-term mission", striving to endure as long as possible without returning to Earth, to test out the maximum duration one could maintain normal working capabilities.

Currently, only he and that young psychology PhD were the calmest of all, even though they were actually unable to contain their excitement, they had already anticipated the changes that would occur in the coming months.

However, Li Sheng was thinking even more beyond that.

"Captain, what are you thinking about?"

Since the Aerospace Development Committee decided to change the residency system of the Forward, people had gradually started calling Li Sheng "Captain," and he had expressed an attitude of tacit approval.

Lian Xinwei’s voice roused him from his thoughts, but Li Sheng just shook his head lightly:

"It’s nothing."

Lian Xinwei was the only psychology PhD and also served as the space station’s psychological doctor, as well as the pilot of this flight mission’s Ruiyun Airship.

He keenly sensed that Li Sheng was thinking about something else, but intuition stopped him from pressing further.

In fact, Li Sheng was pondering the unusual recent behavior of the Aerospace Development Committee and the Space Agency; Zhong Cheng and several core figures had been absent for the past few days, and Lin Ju had also disappeared.

It was normal for these top figures to be absent for a few days, but what was strange was that their tasks had also been significantly adjusted; as astronauts who should be the center of attention at this stage, Lin Ju and Zhong Cheng were expected to show up.

Besides, while the content of the mission remained largely the same, the style had undergone a major change, becoming more aggressive than before, as if wanting them to quickly mature and then get busy with some task.

But these doubts were merely suppressed in his heart, as the current situation seemed stable and there was no apparent threat to face.

He once again focused all his attention on the mission; through the porthole of the Ruiyun Airship, one could now see a medium-sized half-circle structure, which was the Forward, partially illuminated by the sunlight.

In the past three months, the Forward, besides electricity and RCS fuel, had barely consumed any supplies, and with almost limitless electricity, re-boarding the astronauts required very little preparation.

All three H1 missions had been completed three days earlier, and Li Sheng could vaguely make out the outlines of Unity and Progress.

"Captain: Major General Li Sheng, Life Steward ’Wen Xin’ 2101 greets you, it’s been a long time.

I heard that the supplies this time include an upgraded generation of NPU computing units, I hope to provide you with better service."

The synthesized soft female voice from the encrypted channel brought a slight smile to Li Sheng’s face.

It seems even the ground control had acknowledged the title of "Captain," having even updated the setting for the robot.

"Thank you for your concern, I will install it for you as soon as possible."