Chapter 81: No Limits
At this moment, not only Jiang Yang, but everyone’s hearts were all lifted up.
Especially Professor Chen Yusheng.
In this life, he performed much better than in the previous life, clearly knowing about the previous life’s continuous deaths of more than a dozen astronauts before finally one astronaut launched successfully, which gave him sufficient psychological preparation and ability to endure.
But even so, his face was still pale, and his body was trembling slightly.
Suddenly, a burst of intense firelight exploded in the bright sky, and a cold voice devoid of any emotion clearly reached people’s ears: “Rocket No. 1 launch failed!”
Professor Chen Yusheng’s body swayed, and he closed his eyes full of pain.
But this was not the end.
Subsequent voices continued to come in endlessly.
“Rocket No. 2 launch failed!”
“Rocket No. 3 launch failed!”
“Rocket No. 4 launch failed!”
“Rocket No. 5 launch failed!”
All five rockets of the first batch failed to launch.
Even though he knew this was a normal situation, knowing that the highest success rate of rocket launches in this life was only about 20%, and five consecutive launch failures were already expected, Jiang Yang’s heart was still full of sadness.
Unfortunately, physical law does not change with human willpower and emotion. No matter how great people’s expectations are, it remains as it is.
Soon, the second batch of 5 rockets stood on the launch pad, and soon, the corresponding five astronauts stepped out from the restroom and headed to the launch tower, proceeding to the spaceship at the top of the rocket.
Their steps were still steady, and their stride frequency was still stable. Even their breathing and expressions showed little change.
Watching their figures, Jiang Yang suddenly seemed to see those events that happened in the war era.
In his ears, he seemed to vaguely hear some high-pitched and loud charge horn sounds.
Under this sound, one warrior after another with lofty beliefs and firm ideals, braving machine gun fire and bullet rain, braving sky-high artillery fire, wearing clothes full of dirt and damage, holding weapons in their hands that were garbage compared to the enemy, charged without hesitation toward the enemy ahead that was much stronger than their own side.
Batch after batch of warriors fell, silently losing their lives, and from the rear, batch after batch of warriors still charged forward without hesitation.
Jiang Yang’s heart was pounding like a drum. At this moment, his entire body was filled with boiling hot blood, making him wish he could rush up himself and join this war.
But he knew he had no right to do so.
The second batch of rockets began launching again. This time’s results were more encouraging.
Just five rockets, and fully three succeeded!
In just over ten minutes, three astronauts and the spaceships they rode were sent into Earth orbit.
The third batch launch started immediately without any pause.
In the previous life, as long as there was one success, no further launch missions were needed afterward. But in this life, 64 rockets, 64 astronauts, each one needed to make a trip to space.
More than three hours later, the 64 rockets had all been launched.
Looking at the astronaut restroom that was already completely empty, Jiang Yang let out a heavy sigh from his heart.
Overall, the rocket launch success rate in this life was indeed higher than in the previous life, but it had not reached the 20% success rate he had expected at the time.
64 rockets ultimately sent 12 astronauts into Earth orbit, with a total success rate of about 18.7%.
Before even reaching the battlefield, more than 80% of the warriors had sacrificed on the way. And these remaining 12 warriors would bear all the hope for the continuation of the entire nation and civilization.
After launching the astronauts, the mission proceeded to the next phase.
Nuclear bombs.
In this life, these human strongest weapons representing destruction and death would not be sent to the Moon via intercontinental ballistic missiles, but would similarly use Giant Spirit God II rockets.
The reason was simple: this time, people needed to deliver these nuclear bombs steadily to the Moon, rather than having them explode directly on the Moon.
If the astronauts could explore certain things on the Moon, these nuclear bombs would still be needed to destroy them.
After comprehensive consideration of the Giant Spirit God II rocket’s payload capacity, as well as the nuclear bombs’ yields, sizes, and mass, the final selections were three different types of nuclear bombs.
Among them, the smallest nuclear bomb was the atomic bomb. Based on advanced nuclear bomb miniaturization technology, this small atomic bomb’s total mass was only 100 kilograms, its size like a large suitcase, and its yield only about 200 tons of TNT.
For this small atomic bomb, one Giant Spirit God II rocket launch could deliver eight to the Moon if successful.
Next was the medium nuclear bomb.
It was a hydrogen bomb, with a total mass of only about 300 kilograms, size like a super small mixing tank, and yield around 8000 tons of TNT.
The third type was the largest, also a hydrogen bomb, with a total mass of 1.5 tons, and yield skyrocketing to about 1 million tons of TNT.
Overall, it looked like a small car.
For this nuclear bomb, one Giant Spirit God II rocket could only deliver one.
Three different nuclear bombs: the smallest atomic bombs planned for 40, medium and large for 10 and 2 respectively.
Thus, a total of 12 Giant Spirit God II rockets were needed.
The launches began accordingly.
Amid the rocket’s roar, brilliant fireworks exploded one after another in the sky, and similarly, one payload bay after another, or spaceship, ascended to Earth orbit and began orbital adjustment there.
Jiang Yang knew that a rocket exploding in the air would not detonate the nuclear bomb in the payload bay—that required a special and specific detonation method.
People did not need to worry about nuclear bomb explosions, but another issue needed attention.
Hydrogen bombs use hydrogen isotopes as fission materials; even if those materials dispersed, it wouldn’t matter. But atomic bombs are different.
They use uranium-235 or plutonium-239 as fission materials, and both these elements have strong radioactivity, posing great pollution and hazard.
Once affected by the rocket explosion shockwave, these nuclear materials would disperse into the air; though the quantity was not much, it could still significantly raise the radiation levels at the launch site and surrounding environment.
But in the current situation… there was no time to worry about it.
The nuclear bomb launch success rate reached 18%, consuming a total of 67 rockets.
At this moment, the 292 Giant Spirit God II rockets manufactured with the strength of the entire nation still had 161 left.
These 161 rockets would all be used up in the third stage launches, all for delivering replenishment supplies and munitions.
Yes, people would also send to the Moon weapons and munitions including artillery, rocket projectiles, grenades, machine guns, rifles, etc., specially designed for use in vacuum environments, for the astronauts to use as needed.
As for the quantity…
No upper limit; launch all 161 rockets, deliver as much as possible.
