I ask you to build tractors, but you build rockets?

There were no helicopters tracking all the way, no rescue teams speeding across the grassland in off-road vehicles, the Progress simply landed on the runway.

But when she just touched the ground and began to slide, seven or eight cars started to follow her, and they immediately surrounded the Progress when it stopped.

The ground attendant wearing a gray-white work cap first used a key to open the small window of the side hatch, then grabbed the handle inside and pulled it down hard.

The side hatch opened smoothly under the action of the motor. It was first pushed out a little distance, and then the internal pressurized air flow leaked out from the gap, and then it slid open.

They rushed in and saw no dangers like those seen in emergency drills, just three astronauts opening their masks and breathing in the fresh air flowing in from the hatch.

Deng Lei's seat belt was unfastened, but he refused to be supported, stood up with his hands on the chair, carefully held the shoulders of the people around him and walked out.

The media cameras outside, which were strictly restricted, saw the first astronaut holding on to the hatch after landing and carefully stepping out of the space shuttle.

Deng Lei's ears were suddenly surrounded by various sounds, but that didn't matter. He now took a bowl of steaming egg noodles, inhaled the alluring aroma, and took a long sip.

In the photo taken by the reporter, the astronaut wearing a spacesuit and looking like a giant bear is holding noodles in his hands and feeding them into the open mask.

…

Four hours after the Progress landed safely, the Arab-US Congress held a hearing.

Claire, the current director of NACA, is holding up a photo of Deng Lei eating noodles, which is bigger than his head, and tapping the Progress with his fingers.

"We are falling behind, we are falling behind! NACA has never encountered such a severe challenge. This is like Gagarin gaining an advantage by flying into the sky before us. If we don't catch up with Aramco, we will always lag behind in aerospace!"

Director Claire was shouting hoarse, as if the light of democracy had begun to dim and its evil Eastern counterparts were about to rule space.

NACA came to Congress with only one thing in mind: to restart the space shuttle program and inject an additional $30 billion in funding for the Artemis return to the moon program.

Claire discussed the importance of the space shuttle in many aspects such as ISS (International Space Station) maintenance, large spacecraft transportation, and rapid manned travel.

But what he wants is not to pull the retired space shuttle Atlantis back to fly, but to launch a new project:

"This is no longer half a century ago. Many of the existing technologies are far more mature than they were then. NACA only needs one-fifth of the past budget to restart the new space shuttle research program, and the cost is only one-tenth of the past. !”

Some of the congressional gentlemen were indifferent, and some had difficulty breathing as if they were being held by their collars. Claire's performance was still effective.

Then he took out the "100:1 Youth and Adult Toy Xinyuan 2 CBC Rocket Model Moon Landing Trebo" model, using the CBC configuration in the Xinyuan PPT and connecting two cores of the first-stage rocket in parallel. Hold it in your hand and compare it to the Saturn V:

"X2 can launch two rockets every month, then X2A can launch three every two months! It only takes more than two months for them to send the lunar landing spacecraft to the moon, while the SLS rocket can launch one rocket a year , this is unbearable backwardness!

Look, gentlemen, this is what we've gotten from budget cuts over the years! A private company has surpassed NACA, which once put a man on the moon! "

"Mr. Claire, we don't know anything about aerospace. Landing on the moon requires a lot of preparations, such as spaceships and landing modules. They don't have them."

Facing the congressman's rebuttal, Claire's expression remained unchanged:

"China has already sent people into space. It only takes more than a year to develop it. They are far more powerful than the alliance. NACA should land on the moon in 2018 instead of 2020..."

Claire battled with the crowd and fought with the MPs for a whole day. The result of the battle was gratifying.

Although NASA and the military have always liked to exaggerate their opponents to obtain budgets, now that Xinyuan 2 has flown, the gentlemen in Congress can still see that it is really impossible to do without more money.

The plan to restart the space shuttle has been approved, but the first budget is only 1.5 billion US dollars. Let's do some research first. The landowners have no surplus food at home.

The Artemis plan to return to the moon was indeed delayed before, but now it seems that it cannot be delayed, because Xinyuan-2A can really land on the moon!

In the end, Claire received a plan for an additional US$5 billion for the next fiscal year, but required accelerating the development of the Orion spacecraft, completing the first unmanned flight around the moon in 2016, and landing a man on the moon before the end of 2018.

Of course, there's no telling whether things will turn out as they imagined.

…

While most people welcomed the trio home and happily reported on China's first private manned space flight, Lin Ju was hiding in his room, waiting for the system's mission settlement.

[Mission: Send at least 5 astronauts or 2 astronauts and 3,600 kilograms of scientific payload into low-Earth orbit and return safely to complete a rocket recovery experiment.

Status: Completed (Three astronauts (two payload experts) and 4197 kilograms of scientific payload have been sent into low-Earth orbit for 72 hours and returned safely, and 19 launch vehicle recovery experiments have been completed)

The cumulative mission gain calculated based on the spread of influence and overfulfillment: 168%.

Congratulations, you have successfully and brilliantly completed the system task. You already have the ability to develop the peak performance engine of the chemical energy era. The reward has been upgraded to: 1997-style hybrid pneumatic engine technical drawings, technical information and production processes. 】

[97-year hybrid engine (NPAE Nuclear fission Plasma Aerospike Engine): The last generation jet engine developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1997. It is based on the nuclear thermal-ionization-gas tip combined propulsion method. It is designed to be used in Engines that take off from the atmosphere to low-Earth orbit are designed and manufactured for Earth-like planets.

The engine uses methane as fuel, and the nuclear reactor heats and expands. At the same time, it is ionized into plasma by high temperature, and is ejected through the air tip nozzle at the tail. It can stably work and output thrust under different atmospheric pressures from the ground to vacuum, making it an ideal power source for the lander. , and because it does not come into contact with fissionable materials, very little radiation can take off directly in the atmosphere.

Reactor power: 1150MW, specific impulse 3200 seconds, thrust 18 tons, dead weight 3.6 tons.

Note: The production process of this engine is extremely complex, and a large number of technologies take time to transform into results, so please apply with caution. 】

[New mission released: You already have the ability to send humans into space. Please keep up your efforts and complete the Earth's satellite: the moon within 48 months, conduct manned exploration and establish a base that can station two people.

Tip: NPAE seems to be very suitable for this task. It is complicated, but it will be very helpful in the future. Just overcome the difficulties and produce it. It will not let you down.

Note: This task has been judged and the host no longer meets the assistance sequence. 】