Chapter 90: Tempering
Under the enormous overload pressure, Jiang Yang felt his entire body being compressed.
His bones and muscles ached as if they were being torn apart, yet his blood seemed to be squeezed out of his head, making him clearly perceive the pain and discomfort while his thinking became extremely slow and rigid.
If it were just that, it would be tolerable, but at this moment, the anti-G suit also began to exert force, desperately squeezing every part of his limbs like squeezing a sponge, desperately applying greater pressure to the blood and forcing it toward his head to maintain brain blood supply and prevent him from losing consciousness.
Under multiple torments, Jiang Yang truly experienced what it meant to wish for death.
For astronauts, enduring overload pressure up to 5 to 6 times in a centrifuge is a standard training subject.
Their bodies are also strong enough to maintain sufficient rationality and focus in such an environment.
But for Jiang Yang, there was no way.
Just five days was not enough; no amount of special training could possibly achieve that level of physical quality. It would be better not to undergo the related training and just endure it directly.
Amid the intense noise and vibration, Jiang Yang was dazed. He didn’t know when, but he suddenly lost consciousness.
The next moment, in the rental room, Jiang Yang abruptly sat up from the bed.
Huff, huff…
Stunned for a moment, Jiang Yang finally reacted.
This is… another cycle? Have I returned to the starting point again?
In that case, that launch must have failed.
Indeed, scientific laws are not influenced by anyone’s will. Even if I take the ride, the launch that is supposed to fail will still fail.
Then… let’s go again!
After a series of operations, repeating the mental and physical adjustment phase of the previous cycle, Jiang Yang once again possessed abundant energy and a good physical condition.
“…0, ignition!”
Blazing flames jetted out from the rocket tail once again. The difference was that this time, the rocket he was riding was a different one, no longer the first rocket to arrive at the launch site from the previous cycle.
Although there are countless factors influencing rocket launch success or failure, the rocket that failed in the previous cycle might not necessarily fail in this one, but switching to another was still safer.
The multiple torments from gravity, anti-G suit, noise, and vibration assaulted him again, and Jiang Yang once again entered that dazed state.
He didn’t know how much time had passed when Jiang Yang lost consciousness again and jolted awake from his bed in the rental room once more.
Damn it, this rocket really is unreliable. Let’s go again!
Based on the 22% success rate, the probability of three consecutive rocket failures is about 47.4%, so this time, the success rate has risen to 52.6%!
In the astronaut restroom, Professor Chen Yusheng looked at Jiang Yang with a somewhat complex expression: “No, you’re wrong.
Even if it fails a thousand times, ten thousand times, the success rate of the next rocket launch is still 22%, and the failure rate is still 78%, not 47.4%.”
“Alright.”
Jiang Yang shook off the bit of disappointment in his heart, entered the spaceship again, and then woke up once more in the rental room.
Let’s go again!
Another failure.
Isn’t this too unlucky? With a 22% success rate, five consecutive failures?
Let’s go again!
Amid one failure after another, Jiang Yang felt no dejection in his heart; these repeated temperings between life and death instead made his spirit increasingly resilient.
Lying in the spaceship once again, listening to the familiar countdown voice, Jiang Yang looked at the number displaying his heart rate at the top.
70 beats per minute.
Almost the same as his usual rate.
At this moment, Jiang Yang felt no tension or heaviness in his heart, only the unwavering will to press forward no matter how many failures.
The enormous overload pressure assaulted him again, and Jiang Yang closed his eyes and silently endured.
After an unknown amount of time, an unprecedented wondrous sensation suddenly appeared.
It was as if his body was floating in water at that moment, or as if it had completely lost weight, like he was about to fly up the next instant.
The enormous overload pressure vanished, the heavy weight of the mechanical spacesuit disappeared, and even the immense pressure from the anti-G suit completely vanished.
At this moment, Jiang Yang felt his bones and muscles throughout his body completely relax.
The next moment, he saw himself truly “fly” up.
Not only himself, but some objects previously placed beside him also floated up together at this moment.
“This is weightlessness? It’s truly wondrous…”
Sensing the wonder of weightlessness, he looked at a screen.
It displayed the scene outside the spaceship cabin, provided by a dedicated camera.
Thus, he saw a peculiar sight.
Under the dazzling sunlight, a massive blue planet quietly floated. In the high altitude unknown distance from the blue planet, a spaceship gleaming with metallic color revealed part of its body, quietly floating amid the myriad stars.
“This is Earth, this is space?…”
He murmured in his heart when he heard Sun Changhe’s solemn voice come through the communicator: “Comrade Jiang Yang, the spaceship has successfully achieved orbital insertion. How are you feeling now?”
Collecting his thoughts, Jiang Yang said in a deep voice: “I feel good.”
“Good. From now on, your task is to wait patiently; you don’t need to do anything else. Shortly, astronauts will maneuver other spaceships to dock with you.”
“Understood.”
In the bulky mechanical spacesuit, Jiang Yang began to wait quietly.
Thus, he clearly saw part of a rocket launch scene in the footage.
From that blue-and-white planet, a small bright spot dragged a long tail flame, slowly rising from the land. But before reaching the highest point, its brightness suddenly increased, then it vanished.
He knew a rocket launch had failed.
As it moved quickly forward, the spaceship Jiang Yang was riding soon reached the other side of Earth, and he saw the myriad lights on the planet, sparkling brilliantly, adorning Earth like a gem.
The sun quickly rose from the bottom left of the screen, and the dark planet turned bright blue again.
He saw light spots climbing from the land once more.
Some light spots steadily vanished, probably rockets completing their missions and shutting down automatically, while fireworks-like flashes continued to appear.
He just watched quietly like this, waiting quietly.
More than two hours later, he saw a small bright spot appear in the cabin exterior footage, growing brighter and brighter.
Another two hours passed, and he clearly saw the true form of that small bright spot.
It was not a point, but another spaceship identical to the one he was riding.
A voice came through the radio communication into Jiang Yang’s ears: “Comrade Jiang Yang, Astronaut Li Hui reporting to you.
Next, I will perform the spaceship docking operation. During the process, you need not interfere in any way…”
