Chapter 259: With Courage And Determination, Forge Ahead
After the F-1 engine and J-2 engine were sorted out, in Lin Ran’s view, there were no more obstacles in front of the moon landing.
The rest was nothing more than completing the operations step by step.
Any problem that could be solved by the control system and orbit algorithm was not a problem.
Of course, not everyone thought so.
When he returned to Shanghai from Chang’an, the atmosphere in the company was still very tense.
Because they were about to conduct the first manned spaceflight.
Including orbiting Earth for more than two laps, finally returning to Earth, with the astronaut completing the extravehicular activity in between.
The moment Lin Ran walked into the Apollo Technology building, the employees spontaneously gathered together and applauded.
The outside world might not know they were going to do a moon landing this year, but everyone inside knew very well.
They had taken the most solid step toward the moon landing goal.
Buzz Aldrin was at the front, and after hugging Lin Ran, he whispered in his ear: “Professor, congratulations, I can’t wait to go to the moon again!”
His voice was very soft, using the awkward Chinese he had learned in China.
Lin Ran then asked: “Buzz, America didn’t give you trouble, did they?”
He could guess with his feet that America must have given him trouble.
It would be strange if they didn’t.
Lin Ran guessed that none of these former NASA employees present had escaped America calling them up and pressuring them with threats and inducements to go back.
Buzz Aldrin grinned and said: “Of course, they even got my ex-wife to call me to go back for a hearing about NASA.
I’m not going back, it’s perfect for letting those vicious FBI guys deal with my ex-wives properly.”
Lin Ran understood; he couldn’t win the lawsuit himself, so Meta personally stepped in to help him get revenge.
Buzz Aldrin thought to himself, this was truly an unexpected gain; if he acted even more excessively, would America send his ex-wives to prison?
Unfortunately, he was too old and not that ruthless.
Lin Ran continued: “What about the others?
Haines, how about you?”
Haines stepped forward and explained: “We’re fine, the pressure on us is less than on Buzz.
Because I estimate NASA also hopes we’ll work here longer, so when we go back, we can bring all the experience we’ve seen here back with us.
NASA thinks we participated in the F-1 engine restoration work.
Plus our family relationships are actually quite distant, only Buzz faces relatively greater pressure.”
Lin Ran understood; after Armstrong passed away, Buzz Aldrin was America’s first person to land on the moon, and if the Chinese sent Buzz Aldrin to the moon, that would be a pretty big slap in the face.
China’s publicly released Moon 1 data blatantly told the world that this was the F-1 they used to be able to make but couldn’t anymore, and that alone was enough of a slap.
The Americans could still promote it as a conspiracy spanning over a decade or even decades.
But that wasn’t wrong; it really had spanned decades.
However, neither NASA nor CNSA could imagine this wasn’t a continuous function, but a piecewise function.
Even a piecewise function that jumps back and forth repeatedly.
If Moon 1’s slap was a 10, then a Chinese person sending Buzz Aldrin up there would make the slap a ten thousand, or more.
This also led to America starting to huff and puff, like a stress response, issuing thirteen golden decrees in a row, using the need for witnesses at the hearing as an excuse to force Buzz Aldrin to return to America quickly.
Resorting to dragging out Buzz Aldrin’s ex-wives in their desperation.
“That’s good, this Christmas everyone can go back to America for it,” Lin Ran said.
Buzz Aldrin hesitated to speak.
Haines couldn’t hold back: “Professor, to be honest, if we really succeed in the moon landing, I hope to apply for a Chinese green card and stay here.
Rudolf, you know him?”
Lin Ran frowned; this was a familiar name.
It was also the former Nazi henchman whom Lin Ran had sent out of NASA to fend for himself after a small trial in NASA’s palace intrigue in the 60s.
“I don’t know,” Lin Ran shook his head and said.
Haines said: “Professor, this was my direct superior at NASA in the 60s; after leaving NASA, he was embroiled in lawsuits, lost his pension, and eventually disappeared without a trace.
If we complete the moon landing here, when we go back to America, we’ll probably face the same fate.
Being investigated back and forth by the FBI, endless interrogations, and in exhaustion, entering the grave.
I and they all hope to spend the last days of our lives in China.”
The emotions of these NASA old timers were very complex.
At first, few believed Lin Ran could complete the moon landing; after coming here, everyone felt there was a chance, but that was based on at least five years.
Five years—whether they’d still be around then was uncertain.
As a result, it can now be done in a year and a half.
This embarrassed them greatly. First, they had indeed participated in the moon landing project spanning sixty years and two generations, so they had no regrets in this life. Second, they knew too well the nature of those people in Washington; going back would definitely mean trouble.
Everyone was old timers who had worked in key institutions and had seen and heard too much of America’s dark side.
So none of them wanted to go back.
Lin Ran nodded: “Good, I will help you strive for it.”
The words of the NASA old timers reminded Lin Ran of his own mentor, that Indian-descended Nilanjan.
Compared to Seagull and Horkheimer, who were nominal mentors in the 1960s, Nilanjan was far inferior to these two in every aspect.
Nilanjan called crying, pleading, and cursing, asking if Lin Ran could return to America to accept the investigation and clear his name.
This made Lin Ran laugh. I’m already in China, isn’t America’s accusation just a Medal of Honor?
In other words, why does Xiaomi’s reputation not compare to Huawei on the Chinese Internet? Isn’t it because Huawei is confronting America? Don’t worry about whether this confrontation was forced or not; in short, America sees Huawei as a thorn in its side.
If I cared about so-called innocence in the Western world, I wouldn’t have chosen to return to China.
And on the phone, Lin Ran also figured it out: Nilanjan was completely asking for it himself, crazily hyping himself up as unparalleled on earth.
From recognizing a hero with keen eyes, to guiding Lin Ran, to having a close private relationship with Lin Ran, there was nothing Nilanjan didn’t hype.
You hyped yourself up like that, and you’re still Indian-descended; who else would the Americans take it out on but you?
Lin Ran decisively hung up the phone amid the cursing, with only a faint sadness passing through his heart; the other party really hadn’t made any big mistakes.
He had just made a mistake that any Indian-descended person would make, absolutely not deserving of this outcome.
However, Lin Ran really had no way to save him.
Lin Ran’s thoughts returned to the scene, and he turned to look at Buzz Aldrin:
“Buzz, what about you?”
Buzz Aldrin was somewhat melancholic: “I hope to die on the Moon.”
After the celebration segment ended, Lin Ran returned to his office, with Song Nanping following closely behind.
“Did you understand the requests of those former NASA employees?” Lin Ran asked.
They spoke English, and with a southern accent from Huntsville City at that, and fast speech rate; it wasn’t easy for ordinary people to understand.
Song Nanping nodded: “I got the general idea.”
Lin Ran continued: “So can you help them get green cards on your end?
The embers of the Apollo Moon Landing are finally buried in our China; this is also a kind of inheritance, with unparalleled symbolic significance.”
After thinking for a moment, Song Nanping said: “I will handle it as soon as possible.”
Lin Ran said directly: “Nanping, I think we should all be frank.
I know you’re not an ordinary state-owned enterprise employee; your identity is very special.
As long as it’s something I want to do, the initiative is in my hands; I don’t reject cooperating with the government.
I know very well that without you, without some employees with second identities working at Apollo Technology, we couldn’t have obtained resources at this level.
Private Aerospace is a pseudo-proposition in some sense; it’s just the government transitioning some functions to the market, hoping the market can nurture more dynamic and innovative enterprises.”
Song Nanping wasn’t too surprised; he knew his own identity, and knew Lin Ran had guessed it, but he didn’t expect Lin Ran to break this window paper at this point in time.
“General Manager Lin, you’re right,” Song Nanping said. “The reason I didn’t say it clearly before was because I was afraid you would have resistance to this situation.”
Lin Ran smiled lightly: “Aerospace is different from other fields; I need to leverage a lot of government resources.
Musk’s SpaceX also relied on NASA and American military technology, orders, and engineers to sustain itself during development.
Take this moon landing as an example: without government assistance, from launch to recovery, could we handle Pacific Ocean recovery on our own?
Some industries can be completely free, but for some industries, not cooperating with the government is unrealistic.”
What Lin Ran said was only part of it.
Launching rockets requires a license; without state-owned capital background, it’s very difficult to get this license.
Including rocket launches, which need to use the national launch center; rocket tests need national existing test laboratories; astronaut training needs existing training centers.
No matter who it is, it’s impossible to endlessly reinvent the wheel.
So cooperation is inevitable.
Lin Ran continued: “So Nanping, tell me directly what you have; you act as the communication channel between me and the government.
I will also tell you directly what I need.”
As the former NASA director who directly managed thousands and indirectly managed hundreds of thousands, Lin Ran knew very well that during an organization’s growth phase, you can manage it however you want, and it will go smoothly.
Of course, he didn’t know yet how to manage when the organization reaches a bottleneck or decline phase.
But since it’s the growth phase now, let’s clarify things now and use frankness to eliminate such hidden risks in advance.
“Everyone is an elite among elites, elites who will carry out many missions in the future.”
After arriving at Wenchang, on the ground of the rocket launch site, standing in front of Lin Ran were Apollo Technology’s astronauts; they were about to carry out the first aerospace mission in their lives.
Apollo Technology initially recruited 14 people, and later, one after another for various reasons—some due to family reasons, some deemed unsuitable in personality tests, and others who felt that astronaut life was not what they had imagined—only the five now before them remained.
Whether passively or actively leaving, the astronaut sequence naturally eliminated more than half.
Apollo Technology’s astronaut recruitment is still ongoing, but it’s hard to find suitable ones.
And these five who remained, the elite among elites, have already signed contracts with Apollo Technology, and their organizational relationships have been transferred from the previous Air Force or national aviation.
The two among the five to carry out this mission are Qian Fei and Zhao Jianguo.
“Today you will embark on a historic journey, which will test our abilities and bring us one step closer to the goal of landing on the Moon.
Your mission is similar to the preparatory tasks of the Apollo Program, which laid the foundation for the first Moon landing.
Just as Apollo 7 tested the Command Module, Apollo 8 orbited the Moon, Apollo 9 tested the Lunar Module, and Apollo 10 was a full dress rehearsal for the Moon landing mission—with the Command Module and Lunar Module flying to Lunar Orbit, and the Lunar Module descending to about fifteen kilometers from the Lunar Surface—these tested all operations except the actual landing.
Considering that our Saturn V rocket is still under construction, currently we can’t enter Lunar Orbit for testing with the Burning One Rocket.
In this mission, we will complete the test tasks of Apollo 7, as well as a large number of tasks from the Mercury Program and Gemini Program before the Apollo Program began.
To be carried out by our two astronauts, Qian Fei and Zhao Jianguo.
Once the Saturn V is completed, we will complete the test tasks of Apollo 8 and 9, and ultimately abandon the rehearsal phase to achieve the Apollo Moon Landing in one go.
Only Qian Fei and Zhao Jianguo are about to carry out the mission, but that doesn’t mean the other three won’t have opportunities to carry out astronaut missions.
On the contrary, the number of five astronauts is really too few; each of you will carry out a large number of space missions in the years to come, with footprints possibly covering the entire Solar System.”
After personally witnessing the miracle of the Burning One Rocket and the F-1 engine, everyone deeply believed these words.
Everyone has undergone training and knows that in the entire Apollo Moon Landing process, it wasn’t only Aldrin and Armstrong who went to the Moon; later, one after another, several more astronauts went to the Moon.
So regarding the selection of Qian Fei and Zhao Jianguo, the other three astronauts would feel envious inside, envious that they could carry out the mission first, but that was about it.
After all, for the first Chinese person to go to the Moon, honor also means risk behind it—who can guarantee success on the first try?
“In those Apollo Moon Landing missions, the astronauts faced countless challenges and uncertainties, but through their courage, skills, and team cooperation, they overcame the difficulties and achieved great accomplishments.
Neil Armstrong was the first person to step on the Moon; everyone is familiar with him, and he was also an old acquaintance of Buzz.
During the Apollo 11 mission, while the Lunar Module was descending, the computer issued a 1202 alarm, showing an executive overflow error. They discovered that the spaceship had deviated four miles from the predetermined landing point and was rapidly descending toward an area littered with boulders.
When fuel was down to only 25 seconds remaining, the situation was extremely urgent. Armstrong quickly shut off autonomous driving, personally controlled the spaceship, avoided the boulder field, and finally landed safely when fuel was almost exhausted.
Neil later recalled, ‘I may have been a bit scared, but I was too busy with the landing at the time to think about it.’
His calmness and focus were key to the mission’s success.
Similarly, you may encounter unexpected situations, but please remember to stay focused and trust your training.
The reason Buzz is strict with you in normal training is because you are likely to encounter similar situations, and you cannot completely trust the automatic system.
Even autonomous driving technology on Earth is not yet mature; in space, would you dare entrust your lives to the automatic system?
The calmness and courage shown by America’s Apollo team under pressure—you should also have the same ability to meet any challenge.
Another story comes from Apollo 12.
In November 1969, Charles and Allen, while carrying out the mission, had their rocket struck by lightning after launch, causing instrument failure and a temporary interruption of communication and electricity systems.
Allen quickly reset the system, restored normal operations, and ultimately they landed precisely in the Ocean of Storms, only 200 meters from the unmanned probe Surveyor 3.
In your mission, you may encounter technical problems, but like the Apollo 12 crew, you have the knowledge and support to overcome them.
Also remember, the Control Center is your strong backup; when you encounter difficulties, I will always provide you with the most accurate path to deal with them.
No matter what accident you encounter in space, don’t forget that I am in the Control Center ready at any time to provide you with support; we will face any difficulties together!
Finally, let me quote some words from Apollo astronauts to inspire you forward.
Neil said, ‘I believe we went to the Moon because facing challenges is human nature. It is a call from the soul deep within us, like salmon swimming upstream; we must do these things.’
We are creating history, facing unprecedented challenges, but it is through challenges that we can grow and achieve great accomplishments.
Compressing nearly ten years of space tests into one completion is a huge challenge for you.
As your instructor Buzz Aldrin said, ‘One truth I have discovered is: when you believe anything is possible and are willing to work hard to achieve your goals, you can achieve the next impossible dream. No dream is too high!’
Go forth with courage, determination, and the awareness of being part of great achievements; let us be proud of you and wish your mission complete success.”
