Chapter 84 - 81 Return_1

The Space Agency was caught in an immense dilemma.

Even without the XS-62 tourist cabin, Tiangong No.2 could still carry out its residency mission with little impact.

But docking with the XS-62 would mean the astronauts’ space could be greatly expanded; a single super-large cabin could match the capacity of a dozen smaller ones, a fact that could not be overlooked.

Most importantly, it was cheap: 1.6 billion for 620 cubic meters of space, including launch costs. The space agency couldn’t fathom how to get something as large into space with the same budget.

During the days of ideological struggle between the Fifth Academy and the Space Agency, the Progress had already returned to Earth.

At noon on July 24, the trio shared their last lunch of the mission in the narrow cabin of the space shuttle.

Kung Pao Chicken, minced pork with eggplant, barbecued beef ribs... all sponsored by the Space Agency at no cost to them.

This new generation of space food was the result of ongoing improvements by the Space Food Department after multiple flight missions, and was much tastier than the offerings from New Yuan’s food department.

The latter, due to urgent timing and just aiming to ensure nobody starved, definitely wasn’t as delicious as the Space Agency’s food.

However, as Deng Lei gnawed on his beef ribs, he didn’t have much of an appetite.

It wasn’t so much the sense of loss at leaving space—though that was part of it—but mainly the smell inside the Progress cabin.

Three grown men squeezed into a space of just a few cubic meters could barely cope for three days, but in those days they certainly didn’t refrain from eating and drinking.

The toilet on the Progress was a narrow space separated by a stiff curtain, where bathing (body wiping) and using the toilet took place; although waste matter was evacuated by vacuum, odors still lingered.

The air recycling system was already operating at full power, and indicators were normal, but there was still a peculiar stench in the air.

There was nothing ground controllers could do about it, mainly due to the small space. Endure it for now, things would be more comfortable once aboard the space station.

The independent bathroom of the XS-62 was almost the size of the orbital cabin of the Shenzhou Spaceship and had a separate air recirculation system, ensuring no foul odors.

The trio neatly placed their lunch packaging together after eating: this was important because the aluminum foil material was conductive and had sharp, folded edges, posing a danger.

Finally, all three simultaneously opened a small plastic bag’s twist knob, containing 5 milliliters of wine, which would put a period on their 72-hour space journey.

Commander Deng Lei lifted his bag of wine, "Gentlemen, what we’re celebrating is not the three days in space, but the 48 days, as we’ve experienced 48 sunrises and sunsets."

Zhou Rui: ...

Zhao Xiaowen: ...

"To the forty-eight days!"

All three tilted their heads back to squeeze the wine into their mouths. Zhao Xiaowen rolled backwards with too much force but managed to grab onto the chair in time.

After securing any items that could potentially fall, the three helped each other put on the heavy Pressurized Anti-load Space suits and fastened their face masks, firmly securing themselves to their seats.

The backrests and leg rests automatically adjusted to the most comfortable positions according to the body data of the three crew members, and the Life Sustaining System began pressurizing their suits.

Only Zhou Rui was idle at this time, as Deng Lei kept working on the control panel, checking the status of various components.

The most crucial parts were the communication, radar, engine, and heat shield; losing the latter could spell destruction and death, while losing the first two were equally perilous.

If they lost contact with the ground or couldn’t navigate, the whole shuttle would depend solely on Deng Lei using offline maps to estimate their location and find a suitable place for an emergency landing—a very dire scenario indeed.

Unlike regular manned spaceships, the control of the Progress was shared between the ground crew and astronauts, with the astronauts having the right to make independent decisions.

So after checking the parameters, Deng Lei sent a command to the spacecraft control system to decelerate and descend from orbit.

The RCS propelled the space shuttle slowly to turn in a direction opposite to its travel, then the tail’s 25-ton-grade hydrogen-oxygen engine began to work, limiting the thrust to about 13%, the most fuel-efficient point for the engine’s low thrust.

Due to the great thrust and the continual reduction of fuel, deceleration increased rapidly, and within approximately 40 minutes, it would have completely fallen from orbit, commencing its descent toward the stratosphere.

Unlike flying an airplane, Deng Lei didn’t need to control the spacecraft’s attitude before fully entering the atmosphere; the computer handled it all.

"02, 03, my craft is about to enter the atmosphere, please adjust your attitude!"

In low Earth orbit, a remote-sensing satellite owned by the space agency also locked onto the Progress, continually sending correction data to the Progress’s computer through ground and space positioning.

Deng Lei felt he wasn’t entering the atmosphere but rather riding a surfboard, rising and falling with the tide.

Progress made atmospheric contact over San Francisco, with the ablative layer on its underside undergoing intense friction against the atmosphere, producing bright orange flames.

At that moment, it was 10 pm on the 23rd of St. Francisco, and many people only had to look up to see a brilliant meteor streak across the sky, swiftly moving eastward.

"Catch it! Catch it!"

But not everyone thought it was a meteor; there were also many space enthusiasts in America, tracking the Progress as it slashed across the sky in the suburbs.

"The shuttle, the Progress shuttle!"

"(Translation) She’s beautiful, just like a miniature STS. Heaven knows why they stopped flying the space shuttles."

"(Translation) Those three individuals are the coolest astronauts I’ve ever seen. Two of them are college professors, and one of them is almost 60 years old. The space shuttle really can bring ordinary people into space."

Among these people was an old man with blonde hair, watching from the rooftop of his luxurious hotel as Progress cut through the sky.

"Tchah-na, Tchah-na, Tchah-na!"

Like China, America had no shortage of individuals who were passionate about space shuttles, especially since their retirement in 2011, and they had been nostalgic about it ever since.

To Deng Lei and Zhao Xiaowen, they seemed like a tiny boat in giant waves. The thick atmosphere was like the scattered spray of the waves on which they were speeding along in their assault boat, constantly lifting off and plummeting down, trivializing roller coasters like the kiddie rides outside a supermarket.

When atmospheric particles whisked past the porthole, it was as if someone was banging a hammer against the glass. The Progress shook as if it was about to fall apart.

It wasn’t a matter of strength; such trembling posed no harm to the Progress. If it were the 100-ton H2, the trembling would have been much less.

In the continual ups and downs, the dark space in front of them was gradually replaced by a bright blue sky.

Current altitude of Progress: 50,000 meters.

The vibrations of the space shuttle had disappeared. All Deng Lei could hear now was the steady hum of the air circulation system and the electric buzz of the machinery operating.

He gripped the control stick with his thick palms; it was his turn to take over.

Now, he had entered the outskirts of the Island Country’s airspace. Two F15Js and a P3C took off, watching from afar as Progress, now decelerated to Mach 5, passed above.

The ground reported the situation to Deng Lei, who then opened the public frequency and heard the greeting from the other side.

"JASDF, we request your cooperation, oh heroic commander."

However, before he could even consider whether to respond, he heard a familiar voice in Chinese over the public channel.

"This is PLA AirForce, approaching foreign aircraft, we are on an escort mission, please maintain distance and exercise caution."

Four J11BSH fighter jets took off from Fuzhou, met the Progress head-on over the high seas, and escorted it throughout.

With his own escorting him, Deng Lei felt much more at ease. As altitude gradually fell, by the time he was outside Qiongzhou Island, he had descended to 13,000 meters. The pilots of two fighter jets by his side gave him a thumbs up, then pulled up their aircraft and flew off to either side, returning to their base.

The Xinyuan Launch Site’s ground air traffic control guided the Progress into its landing approach, simultaneously deploying a Yun-12 aircraft to monitor and guide the landing.

Deng Lei slightly raised the nose of the spacecraft, as per his experience in the simulator, approaching at a high speed of 340 kilometers per hour, and landed perfectly on the runway.