Chapter 1097: Hard to Make a Choice (First update, please subscribe)
October 11th.
At Cape Canaveral Air Force Base, a white rocket stands in front of the towering launch tower. No matter it is compared to the Russian R7 rocket or the Nanyang Wanhu 5 rocket, it is not helpful. The booster's Redstone II rockets all look very slim.
When the rocket was about to be launched, von Braun stood in the distance and stared at the rocket. Although its predecessor was the Nanyang Wanhu 4 type, as a rocket engineer, he almost redesigned it For this rocket, many components including the engine and rocket structure were redesigned.
Actually, it is already another rocket.
"Doctor, we will enter the launch window in half an hour."
Listening to the voice behind him, von Braun nodded and said.
“They always ask me why we lag behind, but what they don’t know is that the launch vehicle must be absolutely reliable and ensure the safety of manned flight, otherwise manned spaceflight will become a disaster ."
Looking at the rocket in the distance, von Braun seemed to be explaining something,
"This is just the first step, the next step will be to the God of the Universe. -The Centaur rocket takes larger spacecraft into space.”
Compared with the Redstone rocket, the Atlas Centaur rocket has greater thrust, and at the end of last year it successfully launched the United States' first geostationary communications satellite into space. However, the first five launches of this rocket did not It was not smooth, with only a few successful launches and one partial success. During the first flight, an explosion occurred 45 seconds after takeoff. The fifth launch resulted in the most serious accident of this type of rocket.
Although engineers are still improving it, in the face of manned spaceflight, the launch vehicle must be absolutely reliable, so von Braun chose the red stone rocket, which is very reliable. And after improvement, it can basically meet the needs of manned spaceflight.
“But now, all we can do is conduct an unmanned test first.”
Von Braun then said.
“A week ago, although Nanyang’s test was an unmanned test, they also carried a monkey, which means that their progress is far ahead of us. Now, we are racing against the same time. .”
"We should be able to catch up with them!"
The assistant on the side said.
“After all, the national power of the United States far exceeds that of Southeast Asia.”
Ten minutes later, with a roar, the red stone rocket once again soared into the sky, and the viewing platform several kilometers away was full of There was a roar of cheers. The Americans who came to watch the rocket launch cheered for the launch of the rocket again. It seemed that at this moment, the United States had caught up with other countries.
Like Nanyang, NASA's launch test was broadcast live on television and broadcast to the world through artificial satellites - on December 23 last year, the United States finally successfully launched the first geostationary orbit communications Satellites, but only two have been successfully launched so far - the third one exploded directly. Therefore, the United States has not yet established a global satellite communication network, and the Soviet Union... has also launched two.
Therefore, as in the past, this time the US spacecraft launch broadcast will still involve the Asia-Pacific communication satellites in Nanyang.
A few hours later, the Associated Press released a telex - NASA's first unmanned spacecraft launch test was a complete success. The unmanned spacecraft successfully entered orbit. Next, NASA will A monkey will be sent into space, and the expected launch time is October 21st!
That is, 10 days later, this shows the strength of the United States' national power.
Who feels the most pressure about this?
It must be Russia, it is Korolev, but no one in the world knows that Russia has conducted five tests. No one knows that the reason why Nanyang makes its progress public is actually very simple - it is to accelerate the world. In order to supervise the development speed of Russia and the United States.
As time reaches the end of 1957, the whole world seems to be attracted by space - who will be the first country to send humans into space?
This is how the space race kicked off with the public launch test in Nanyang. No matter what the participants' mood is, they must do their best to win this race. In fact, this is exactly why Li Yian decided to make all this public.
Give humans acceleration!
In fact, the world has been accelerating. Not only in space, but also in another hot land, it is also accelerating and setting off a new upsurge in agricultural production.
In short, the whole world is developing rapidly.
"This is for all mankind!"
After learning that the second test in the United States was successful, Li Yian raised the corner of his mouth and spoke his "mantra" again.
What is it for all mankind? It is clearly for the United States and Russia to run together on the track he has drawn. Everything was within his expectation. Nanyang's progress was forcing them to develop and increase investment in the aerospace industry.
In fact, Nanyang’s progress is ahead of the United States and Russia in terms of manned spaceflight progress.
This is not just because of the excellent design of the Wanhu-5 rocket, but also because of some technical details, such as the heat shield of the spacecraft. The heat insulation technology used by the United States and the Soviet Union is nothing special. Just use some metal alloys with very high melting points and very high specific heat capacities to coat the outside of the spacecraft. If one layer is not enough, apply several more layers. It is simple and crude, and initially solves the problem, but the disadvantage is that it is large in size and the upper temperature limit is not enough.
What Nanyang uses is "ablation insulation". This technology was the second generation of insulation technology proposed by the United States and the Soviet Union when they competed for manned landing on the moon. Based on hard resistance, a new concept "ablation" is proposed. Simply put, as this ablation material evaporates, it absorbs and dissipates large amounts of heat. Speaking of which, this technology is also simple and crude - it is cork, the kind used to make red bottle stoppers.
Since the Apollo 11 mission, cork, which is lightweight and has low thermal conductivity, has been used in the aerospace industry. It can be used not only as thermal protection for rocket bodies, but also as insulation for spacecraft. Thermosphere.
Thermal insulation technology is one aspect, and in terms of the shape of the spaceship, Nanyang is also far ahead. The Soviet Union's first-generation Vostok spacecraft is like a ball. It is unstable and prone to spinning. Gagarin suffered from this, so Li Yian came up with a triangular spaceship shape. In short, relying on these seemingly inconspicuous technical guidance, Nanyang is far ahead of the United States and to a certain extent ahead of the Soviet Union in the progress of manned spaceflight.
"Your Excellency, according to our analysis, it is very likely that the Soviets will launch before November 7th."
Eugene reminded him timely.
“Well, this possibility is very high. This year is the 40th anniversary of the success of the October Revolution. As long as there is a chance, they will definitely do this. There is no better gift than sending astronauts into space. "
Li Yian knew a lot about the gift project in another world. In the Soviet and Eastern countries, they always gave everything a special meaning and connected it with major programs. This is a It's a way of boosting pride, which of course the presiding officials enjoy - after all, it allows them to charge extra in return.
So, the gift project has never stopped, especially for such a big event.
"As long as there is a slight possibility, they will launch before November 7th," thinking of this, Li Yian walked slowly, smoking a cigar from time to time, and then he asked.
"What about us?"
"Our rocket is undergoing final testing. For now, we can launch before this day. The only problem is..."
Looking Your Excellency, Eugene has raised a difficult question.
"Our astronauts have completed their training, but the current question is, we have a total of 6 astronauts, who should we send into space?"
Then Eugene. Turning my attention to you, okay, now I throw the question to you. In fact, this problem does not seem to be very complicated. Often you only need to choose the best one.
"Who is the best among them?"
Li Yian asked.
"Basically there is no difference."
They are all elites selected from a thousand, what is the difference?
Eugene's answer made Li Yian frown. He took a puff of his cigar silently, and the reason why Gagarin was selected suddenly appeared in his mind - first of all, Gagarin was good enough. , but the reason why he was chosen among several astronauts was because he was a pure Russian. At that time, Khrushchev instructed that the first astronaut must be a pure Russian, so even Ukraine with good conditions Titov, the astronaut of the family, can only be a reserve astronaut. Therefore, Gagarin won a little bit, and at the same time, his origin was very correct - he was born in a collective farm, a farmer. At the same time, he graduated from a vocational school and became a trained metallurgical worker. Because of his hobby of flying, he entered an aviation school.
The male protagonist with a proper Soviet-style theme.
Li Yian would not be able to justify it if he was not selected as an astronaut.
As if he remembered something, Li Yian walked behind the desk and took out a file from the drawer. There was information about six astronauts in it. After unfolding their files one by one, their The ages ranged from 22 to 33 years old. According to the selection principle at the time, pilots under the age of 35 were selected.
They have different origins. Except for one German, the other five astronauts all immigrated to Nanyang from Tangshan. They have different ancestral origins and different origins,
< br>Lin Polu, 33 years old, native of Liao Province, studied at the Southwest Associated University, is the oldest, but he is from the fifth batch of search team members, his wife is of German origin, and his father is a former Northeastern Army officer who died in the Anti-Japanese War.
This is one of our own!
Almost subconsciously, Li Yian was more inclined to him.
Xu Yunxiang, 25 years old, is originally from Jiang Province. His father is a businessman. He immigrated to Nanyang in 1947. He attended middle school in Kuching and later entered the Air Force School. Typical experiences of young people in Nanyang - Tangshan primary school, Nanyang middle school or university.
Gao Binghan, 22 years old, originally from Shandong Province, is an exiled student. After graduating from King's School, he later entered the Air Force School.
Hans, 24 years old, is of German descent. His father is a German engineer. He graduated from Changde High School and later entered the Air Force School.
Liu Langxia, 27 years old, originally from Sichuan Province, immigrated to Nanyang with his parents, his father is a teacher, and his mother is a housewife...
Wang Baoxian, 23 years old, originally from Wan Province, immigrated to Nanyang with his parents, his father first worked on the farm , and then switched to business...
Looking at their information, Li Yian was a little hard to choose for a while.
Who should you choose between them?
(End of this chapter)