Early December,

Mu Yang went to the rocket base to inspect the aerospace aircraft.

This project is under the responsibility of Space Exploration Technology Project Group 1, with Vice President of Technology Han Li.

The aerospace aircraft has completed assembly and has begun testing and debugging. Han Li has been living and working at the rocket base recently.

Mu Yang came to the rocket assembly workshop and saw the staff busy.

The aerospace aircraft is huge and is arranged to be installed in the rocket assembly workshop. Just outside the gate is a large runway several kilometers long, which can also take off large aircraft.

The aerospace aircraft being tested in front of us is silver-white all day long, with the Xinghai Group's LOGO and the font "Aerospace One" spray-painted on the head and tail.

At the bottom of the fuselage, there are two wheels at the front and 8 wheels in two rows on the rear belly.

From the outside, unlike an airplane, which has engines under its wings, the wingspan of the Kongtian-1 in front of us is much shorter, about 62.5 meters, and it mainly plays a balancing role.

Kongtian-1 is 83.0 meters long and 18 meters high. The length, width and height of the cargo hold are 45 meters * 10.5 meters * 4.4 meters respectively. The cargo space is very large.

The front half of the cargo hold is divided into two levels, and the upper level can accommodate people.

While flying into space, people and cargo need to be secured.

The cargo inlet is at the head, not at the tail. The engine is installed at the tail, making it inconvenient to design the cargo inlet.

The outgoing port is not at the incoming port, but on the back of the aerospace aircraft, which is covered by the outer shell.

In space, aerial flight needs to be docked with the Star Ring Space Station, and the back is the most suitable. The maximum length and width of the export port can reach 8 meters.

After opening the circular casing, the horizontal docking port is exposed.

There is also a flexible, extendable small outlet in the middle of the outlet, only 3 meters long and wide.

In other words, in addition to docking with large docking interfaces, it can also be docked with small docking interfaces.

Since the overall structure uses a large amount of titanium alloy materials and is manufactured using metal 3D additive processes, such a big thing has an empty weight of less than one hundred tons, but its structural strength is not comparable to that of ordinary aircraft.

When flying at high speed, especially when turning, the bending moment experienced by the aircraft body is relatively large, so higher requirements are placed on the strength of the aircraft body.

When afterburning is started, the cruising speed can reach Mach 3. If the rocket engine is started, it will be terrifying.

The maximum load capacity of LEO is more than two hundred tons. If it wants to fly to the moon and is not refueled at the space station, the load will only be a few dozen tons.

Mu Yang arrived, and Han Li introduced him to the test progress.

"We haven't started taxiing yet. We have to wait until the test is completed. The pilot is familiar with the driving system and the situation of the Star Ring Space Station." Han Li introduced that the pilot is an astronaut who can fly, and two people are needed, one person to assist.

Xinghai Group currently only builds this one, and the development cost is tens of billions of yuan.

Mu Yang followed Han Li and entered the cabin through the head cargo opening, then climbed the ladder to the second floor and arrived at the cab.

The engine switch in the cab has been locked to prevent accidents caused by misoperation by pilots and staff.

"Hello, Chairman!" In the cab, four pilots were studying and discussing. When they saw Mu Yang arriving, they quickly stood up and greeted him respectfully.

"Hello everyone, how are you studying?" Mu Yang nodded and asked casually.

"Judging from the learning progress, we are all proficient in memorizing it. Now we just ask each other questions to become more familiar with the theoretical points.

Of course, there are many problems with this. It's just like driving. It's one thing to understand the theory, but it's another thing to be able to control the car well in an emergency.

Therefore, we also need to strengthen how to respond in emergencies.

However, after all, we have no actual operation, we are just talking on paper, and there is a lot to learn." The pilot, who is the team leader, replied.

"Yes, your analysis is very good. You can recognize your own shortcomings. After they finish testing, they need to glide on the ground more and become familiar with it before flying."

"We promise to complete the tasks assigned by the chairman and the company!"

The pilots knew that the Sky-1 in front of them had a different meaning to the company's representative. No other aircraft could compare with it. There was no room for any operational errors. This was their requirement for themselves and the company's requirement for them.

In addition to being familiar with Kongtian-1, they also have to undergo daily astronaut training.

Mu Yang patted their shoulders and encouraged them: "Well, this big guy depends on you."

He glanced ahead from the cab and felt like he was the driver.

Although Xinghai Group's intelligent technology has developed rapidly, it still uses a large number of physical keys instead of touch screen controls for operating controls in the cab.

The physical keys are convenient and reliable. Only some functional operations that are not very important are set to touch screen operations to reduce the number of physical keys.

In addition to manual operation, intelligent control is also installed to achieve intelligent flight.

Of course, under normal circumstances, human control is more practical.

However, aerospace aircraft can automatically avoid some dangers, but human control still has insufficient care.

Leave the cab and come to the crew cabin.

Each seat is equipped with safety belts, fixed locks, oxygen systems, pressure relief suits, life-saving devices, etc. The manufacturing cost of these configurations for each seat is not low, and there are dozens of such seats.

Leaving the passenger compartment, in the middle is the cargo exit. The structure is slightly complicated from the inside.

The cargo compartment is currently very empty. There are numerous locks on the surface, which can be divided into many cargo compartments of different specifications.

During flight, make sure the cargo does not shake randomly, otherwise it will easily cause the center of gravity to change, which is detrimental to the flight.

Mu Yang went around in a circle and asked some questions and requests.

According to the current testing and debugging situation, if it goes quickly, it will be ready for test flight in May or June next year. He is somewhat looking forward to it.

If the test flight of Kongtian-1 is successful, it will be able to travel to and from the moon conveniently.

Therefore, the requirement to launch a lunar lander on New Year's Day is to explore the lunar data in advance. The simplest thing is to explore which area is better for landing, but not to encounter earthquakes or meteorites not long after landing.

the next day,

Ye Fan, the technical vice president of Space Exploration Technology Project Team 2, reported some bad news to Mu Yang, saying that He Cheng, the second batch of astronauts to the space station, had psychological problems.

"Mr. Ye, what's going on?" Mu Yang still asked the situation seriously. Psychological problems in space will have a huge impact, and it might lead to a space station accident.

"Chairman, it's like this. The area where he lives is airless, and his voice cannot be transmitted out or in. People who stay in this environment for a long time are prone to psychological problems.

Especially after his extravehicular activity, he was in a daze for a long time and his mentality was not very good. It was easy for him to have an accident. Once he was decoupled, it was basically impossible to rescue him.

Later, we communicated with He Cheng on the ground. He said that he saw the deep space around him and felt that human beings are so small. Especially observing the changes of the earth outside the cabin gave him a great psychological feeling.

Hey, young astronauts have little experience, and their psychological stress tolerance is really not as good as that of experienced astronauts." Ye Fan said solemnly.

Mu Yang nodded and asked, "Have you sent a psychiatrist to communicate with him?"

"There is communication, and we suggested that he communicate more with colleagues and do more recreational activities. I am worried that such problems will still occur, and I am most afraid that he will have some abnormal behavior, so I suggest that he wait until the next manned mission to fly and

Send him back to the ground."

Mu Yang thought for a while and said: "I don't know much about his situation. You can make your decision based on the actual situation. I hope to comfort him. If he really can't adapt to space life, switch to ground work and have a good relationship with him.

Communicate without forcing it.

Of course, we will also give him the opportunity to return to the space station, but it depends on the situation and must be strictly assessed."

He is most worried about people with abnormal psychology, especially scientific researchers who are familiar with the space station. If abnormalities occur, they will cause serious damage to the space station.

There are very few female astronauts in the Xinghai Group, mainly because they are worried about women’s poor ability to withstand stress.

Ye Fan said: "I am the general person in charge of the astronaut training base. I am responsible for something like this. I am very sorry, Chairman."

Mu Yang waved his hand: "I don't blame you for this kind of thing, who could have expected that such a thing would happen.

Training on the ground and seeing what you actually experience in space are completely different. Your whole soul will be baptized, and then you will have different ideas, worldview, outlook on life and values.

Not to mention He Cheng, if it were me, the same problem might arise.

After Kongtian-1 is put into use, you managers should also go there to experience it, so that you can do a good job in future scientific research.

In a few months, Kongtian-1 may begin test flights and be put into actual use soon.

So, if you have time, you should also participate in astronaut training."

Ye Fan nodded: "Okay."

He was not too surprised, but was worried. In the final analysis, he still did not do his job well.

After the conversation, Ye Fan convened relevant managers to discuss solutions to the matter. At the same time, he announced the chairman's request to allow everyone to be free to participate in training and not to lose their reputation in space.

Everyone was very excited when they heard that they could go to space.
Chapter completed!