Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

In the end, it was still a matter of money. A penny can stump even a hero.

The domestic satellites didn't exceed three tons, so there was no need for a large-thrust, clustered rocket. If they wanted to develop one, the aerospace department would have to raise the funds themselves, but they didn't have that much money.

"If you don't have money, that's easy to solve. You can take out a loan," Qin Yang said. "The aerospace department can take out a loan. Five hundred million should be no problem. Believe me, once this rocket is developed, it will definitely have a market, not only for undertaking international launch services but also for our own use."

"President Qin, it seems we don't need such a large rocket ourselves, do we?" Old Qian asked.

Taking out a loan was one solution. Historically, the Long March 2E was developed that way. Qin Yang also believed that the people in the aerospace department could complete the development of this rocket. After all, they were using old technologies; it was just a matter of assembling more rockets.

With the Long March 2E, there could be a Long March 3E.

The Long March 3, which was still under development and hadn't been launched yet, only had a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) launch capacity of about 1.5 tons. This thrust was not enough to complete international satellite launch missions. Therefore, after the Long March 3 was developed, the country worked intensively to develop the Long March 3B rocket. This rocket had four boosters strapped to the bottom, just like the Long March 2E, tripling the GTO launch capacity and successfully meeting the needs of foreign customers.

However, the Long March 2E became famous, while the Long March 3B wasn't as well-known. As for why the Long March 2E became famous, it was of course because…

These weren't the problems. However, Qin Yang's statement that it could also be used by themselves made everyone curious.

"That's right. If we're only launching satellites, we don't need such a large rocket. But everyone, don't forget that as aerospace workers, we still have a mission that hasn't been completed."

What mission? Manned spaceflight, of course!

Who in the aerospace industry wouldn't want to send people into space?

The engineers in the aerospace system mainly had two missions: to send people to the blue sky and to send people to the Western Paradise. The latter's mission objective had long been achieved. From Dongfeng 1 to Dongfeng 5, they were all doing the task of sending people to the Western Paradise. However, the task of sending people to the blue sky hadn't been completed yet. The 714 project from back then had already been abandoned!

At this time, hearing Qin Yang say this, the people present became excited.

"President Qin, are you saying that our country is going to restart manned spaceflight?"

"Manned spaceflight requires huge investments. Didn't the country stop investing in us?"

"President Qin, are you going to invest in us for manned spaceflight?"

The aerospace industry needs to have a goal.

The first goal was to launch satellites, which had already been achieved. The current goal was to launch geostationary satellites, which was also about to be achieved. Once geostationary satellites were developed, what would be the next goal for the aerospace department?

Landing on the moon was out of the question; it was too far off. The immediate goal was only the field of manned spaceflight.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the aerospace system conducted multiple demonstrations and ultimately reached a conclusion: the next step in the development of the aerospace industry was manned spaceflight!

This goal was not easy to achieve. After all, there were only two countries in the world that had sent people into space: the United States and the Soviet Union. Both were aerospace superpowers, and they had achieved manned spaceflight in the 1950s and 1960s, leaving other countries far behind.

Even if Europe had this idea, it hadn't taken this step, because it was too difficult.

Now, Qin Yang was saying that they were going to engage in manned spaceflight? Did that mean Qin Yang was going to invest?

Of course not. Private spaceflight wasn't popular now, and Qin Yang didn't have any intention of getting involved in aerospace. After all, he was just a military industry expert who made guns and cannons, not an aerospace expert.

He just wanted to give everyone some encouragement and let them know how to proceed in the future.

Developing manned spaceflight had great significance. Looking at later generations, the Red Empire collapsed, and international cooperation was used to build a space station. However, the East wasn't included!

Seeing themselves excluded from international cooperation, the Easterners could only bury their heads in hard work. If you don't care, we'll do it ourselves!

The Eastern space program took three steps, one step at a time, and eventually established a manned space laboratory. By that time, the Western-cooperated international space station had various problems, and its lifespan was coming to an end. They had no ability to build a similar space station, so they could only watch the East with envy.

Some people also stood up to show their intelligence, saying that the Eastern space station didn't use English, which didn't meet international standards. Our own space station, built by ourselves for our own use, wasn't up to others to criticize.

In this world, strength is the most important thing. Without strength, you will always be looked down upon. You can't rely on others; you can only rely on yourself!

At this time, hearing everyone's questions, Qin Yang said, "I didn't say now. Now it's only the 1980s. Our country has just begun to develop its economy. When our country develops its economy, it will inevitably invest funds in the aerospace industry. By that time, we will have our Long March 2E, with a low Earth orbit carrying capacity of ten tons, which is just right for launching our own spacecraft."

"The old Maozi's Soyuz spacecraft seems to only weigh seven tons, right? Does our spacecraft need to weigh ten tons?"

"Isn't the United States developing the space shuttle? President Qin, do you support us taking the spacecraft route?"

The Americans had already started playing with the space shuttle. Only the old Maozi had spacecraft. Their spacecraft development was very complete now. This Soyuz spacecraft had a three-module structure. The front was the orbital module. In space, astronauts would live and work in the orbital module. The middle bell-shaped return capsule was responsible for entering the atmosphere and bringing the astronauts back. As for the rear equipment module, it mainly installed engines and other equipment.

This design was very scientific. Therefore, when the East started to engage in manned spaceflight, they took one step at a time, first developing this three-module spacecraft.

In fact, the old Maozi's space shuttle was still reliable, but the old Maozi didn't wait until that time.

The American space shuttle had a fuel tank hanging on its belly, and the engine was behind the space shuttle's butt. The old Maozi's space shuttle had a rocket hanging on its belly, and the engine on its butt was used for adjusting its attitude and returning. The technical complexity of the two was very different. In comparison, the old Maozi's was safer. If the Red Empire had existed for a few more years, perhaps the space shuttle would have become a safe vehicle for transportation between Earth and space.