Chapter 778 - 740

Mr. Lin gathered nearly 57 suggestions, all of which further revised and supplemented the previously rough resolution, refining certain content and also expanding some scopes.

The economic aspects were generally within Sullivan’s expectations, but when it came to aviation, space, and Western Pacific affairs, there were complications; it was nearly a demand that America no longer maintains interventionist powers there.

Moreover, this part was particularly emphasized by Xu Rang, indicating that it was a prerequisite for economic mutual trust. Without accomplishing these, all previous talks would be in vain, as the domestic opinion would believe that no guarantees could be secured.

Domestically, of course, it wasn’t seeking a G2. In a sense, America was at a disadvantage in this round of cooperation, so not taking advantage of the situation would simply be a disservice to oneself.

As for America’s proposal of space integration and establishing a space order, although tempting, it was still nothing but an elusive pie in the sky, and it would be foolish to take it for truth.

The domestic attitude was quite practical, strategically focusing on interstellar concerns, while tactically just living day by day, first developing the present to be able to look to the future.

"Xu, we have received your suggestions and will respond in three days. This won’t affect the cooperation matters that have been already confirmed," Sullivan said.

Sullivan didn’t hurry to oppose; great power negotiations are like this. Three months’ time was not considered slow, plus the transition period previously requested by John, the actual negotiation process was going to last over a year, and might even continue with cooperation until it fell through.

After responding to Xu Rang, Sullivan switched to discussing other matters:

"Let’s define this agreement, shall we? This is humanity’s first time uniting together against a common danger. My side still suggests that we should base it on space order and formulate everything within a framework that could maximally lead human counterforces," Sullivan said.

With one sentence, Sullivan expanded the scope from bilateral to all of humanity, combined with the previous Space Force issue, his ambitions were now clear.

However, Xu Rang simply nodded his head; he certainly had no authority to make decisions, but he didn’t think the domestic side would oppose greatly.

...

October 1st.

In one more year, the seventieth anniversary will be celebrated with a grand military parade.

Today’s television broadcast didn’t feature a military parade, but there was a "rocket parade" instead.

...

"Five, four, three, two, one!"

At Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Center, a brand-new rocket with a tail of flame soared into the sky.

About ten minutes later, the external broadcast announced:

"Chang’e 7 has been successfully launched; CZ-5’s maiden voyage was completely successful."

The CZ-5 rocket, with a diameter of 7 meters and featuring 7 YF135 liquid oxygen kerosene engines at its base, had a liftoff thrust of over 2600 tons, a liftoff mass of over 2000 tons, a reusable payload mass of 60 tons, and with the addition of a third stage, it could deliver a 24-ton payload to the Moon, perfectly reaching the design targets.

Its CBC configuration could carry as much as 180 tons to low Earth orbit, with lunar capacity exceeding 70 tons, perfectly replacing the completely discontinued and out-of-stock CZ-10.

The Jingu Rocket Manufacturing Base had manufactured six rockets at once, of which three were to serve independently, and the other three as part of the CBC configuration serving as "Long March 15." In total, this was equivalent to activating four rockets.

Thanks to the efforts of the Jingu base, the CZ-5’s first launch coincided with National Day and sent the already-prepared "Chang’e 7" to the Moon.

The current Chang’e 7 mission was completely different from the original plan, which was a lunar far-side explorer. After the establishment of United Mining, it was no longer necessary to allocate a separate launch mission for this purpose.

Chang’e 7 had been shelved for almost a year, and with the maturation of United Mining’s lunar system, even the Chang’e program was nearly abandoned.

The Chang’e program was once an unmanned project supporting the manned lunar landing. After United Mining established a cheap transportation line with the aero-space plane, Dawn Spaceship, Black Rabbit Space Station, and Chapter 9, it was unnecessary to use rockets for specialized exploration tasks.

Many of the tasks that were once planned for the unmanned explorer could now be done by Chapter 9, which could simply drop off some robots and equipment when flying by, reducing costs and improving efficiency.

After much delay and diversion, they still ended up with the original MTV (Moon Transfer Vehicle), which is to shuttle between lunar orbit and the moon’s surface. A project similar to the small landing craft "Origin" adopted this code name.

The small MTV plan had been fraught with difficulties, and after Chapter 9’s mature application, it seemed somewhat superfluous since it had to refuel after each takeoff and landing, unlike Chapter 9 which could repeatedly ascend and descend three to four times with fuel conservation.

Eventually, the space agency tossed the project to the various institutes, asking them to satisfy the requirements for use as an emergency escape tool, while granting them freedom to develop other capabilities and to see who was willing to take over this thankless project.

Lo and behold, the project surprisingly ended up with Institute 6, which didn’t aim to expand its business but rather planned to test its own nuclear engine.

It was that exact model that Division 110 had worked on for a year, with a thrust of 8.5 tons and a specific impulse of 1400 seconds, a perfect match for the Chang’e 7, which had a weight restriction of no more than 24 tons.

However, due to tight timelines, the completely redesigned Chang’e 7 was still unmanned and could only be used for cargo delivery. Even the engine was a prototype altered for testing, with the space agency planning only to conduct tests and not assigning it any significant mission.

Chang’e 8 and the optimized Chang’e 9, which were intended for crewed back and forth travel, would carry on the Chang’e series in another form.

...

"One hundred ninety-seven, one hundred ninety-eight... two hundred!"

As Fu Xiangjie’s voice fell, a sweaty Li Wei finally couldn’t hold on anymore and stood up gasping for air, hands on his hips to rest.

The rest of the crew members immediately followed with applause because Li Wei had just broken their previous "push-up" record, raising it from 122 to 200.

Due to the Moon’s low gravity, push-ups were certainly different from those on Earth, involving the use of resistance bands to increase difficulty, which actually made them somewhat harder than doing on Earth.

The former record was held by Liu Ming, which was already at a high level; however, Li Wei, who was older, had far surpassed his record.

Of course, it wasn’t that Li Wei trained harder or was exceptionally talented, but rather it was the effect of "304."

The 304 injection that Li Wei had taken was fully effective, demonstrating its extraordinary ability to enhance performance.

It wasn’t just an increase in strength, but also in reaction speed and recovery ability. In Li Wei’s words, even "sleep quality has noticeably improved," making him feel almost ten years younger.

Among the others, Deng Lei had also gone through the full cycle; Liu Ming had one more week to go, whereas Fu Xiangjie was the slowest, and the other four new members hadn’t yet received the injection.

After resting for a moment, Li Wei started drinking water. Soon, he would need to sample his urine, one for a quick test, and one to be sent back to Earth, so as to keep track of any changes in his physical condition.

"If I can maintain this state, I can keep working on the front line until at least 60!"

Li Wei flexed his arms a bit and looked with satisfaction at his well-defined forearms.

"Instructor, even without the 304 injection, your physical condition is already at the peak level of a normal person in their thirties,"

"Haha... But it’s always good to be able to contribute a bit more. There’s still a lot to do coming up,"

Li Wei mused for a few moments, then turned his attention to the four newcomers.

They had received definitive news from Earth that the last mission of 2018 was to build at least half of the lunar highway, connecting Yu Shu Base and the mining fields.

The large equipment needed to construct the highway had already been manufactured and disassembled for transport; it would be sent over in the middle of the month, with people gradually arriving to occupy the Moon and lunar orbit. The resident population was expected to maintain over 50 people, the majority of whom would be there to work on building the highway.

The eight existing astronauts had to be ready to guide them, especially ensuring the safety of the large number of non-professionals who would arrive later, while also squeezing in a new task: training the newcomers.

They were already aware of Enterprise joining the Space Force, and they were even more aware that the Enterprise would eventually land on Mars or another planet. Before this, it would come to the Moon for rehearsals and training.

The thought of Mars made Fu Xiangjie’s heart flutter with excitement:

"Landing on an alien planet probably still requires experienced astronauts, so there’s a chance they’ll select from among us."