849 The Colonists Set Sail (1/2)
The entire lunar colonization program was divided into three steps.
In order to display the aerospace strength of Celestial Trade to the public, the entire colonization process would be broadcast on the official website to the world, 24 hours a day.
The rocket launched first was named Celestial 4, which was the largest carrier rocket for Celestial Trade. As a moon landing rocket, unlike the other rockets in the Celestial series, it used a similar three-stage propulsion mode to a normal rocket. As the first rocket, it would carry the colonists' tools, materials, some necessities, and two pilots.
Kelvin and other space launch center staff had been preparing for this day for too long.
Within the launch center, not only the staff, reporters, and observers from the United Nations were present, but representatives from the UA, France, Hua, Russia, and Britain, and Jiang Chen were all gathered there as well.
When ignition was ordered, a dense fog quickly dispersed into the launch site. With a long trajectory, Celestial 4 carried the hope and pride of Xin and soared into the blue sky.
Landing on the Moon entailed a long waiting process.
After the launch of the rocket, the rocket didn't fly in a straight line to the Moon; it had to go through several orbital changes in the process.
Celestial 4 first entered the parking orbit, which was a circular orbit around Earth where the spacecraft operated like a satellite. The two pilots conducted various checks on the spacecraft and after confirming that all equipment was normal, they would then decide whether to proceed to the Moon. If there were any problems, they would return to Earth and cancel the launch.
Everyone's hearts were thumping rapidly. Their eyes were locked onto the holographic screen in front of them along with the green dot orbiting around the Earth.
After a few hours of waiting, a message stating that ”everything is normal” came back from the parking orbit.
Kelvin was relieved and let out a long breath of air. He wiped his sweat with his palms and ordered, ”Celestial 4 is functioning normally, march towards the Moon!”
”…Roger that.”
After receiving an order from the ground command center, Celestial 4, in standby, circled one and half times before the third-stage rocket reignited and seized the opportunity to enter the Moon orbit at a speed of nearly 11 km/s.
By now, the entire launch project was almost successful.
Kelvin wiped the sweat off his face with the back of his hand while he let out a sigh of relief.
He didn't do much labor, but he was soaked.
Journalists and anchors from major media outlets came forward in attempt to take photos and interview him. However, he just waved his hands and gave his assistant the opportunity to speak before he headed to the lounge.
”Congratulations, Mr. Jiang. Until now, the launch process has been going smoothly. If there are no accidents in the next 60 hours, you will be the second country in the world to successfully send humans to the Moon.” In front of Jiang Chen, Henry, a UN special observer, smiled and extended his hand.
Since the launch of the first Celestial Trade rocket, he has been stationed on Coro Island because of Xin's frequent space activities. At first, he was resentful about this, but Jiang Chen treated him well and he couldn't really complain. In the past two years, he put on a few more pounds and also grew accustomed to life in the country.
After the completion of Penglai City, he bought a house there. He planned to retire there and not return to the UA.
It wasn't farfetched to say he saw the leaps Xin made in aerospace from the beginning to the manned Moon landing that just happened. Despite his position, he genuinely felt happy for Celestial Trade.
”I will take your word for it,” Jiang Chen said with a smile. He glanced at the reporters attempting to break through the wall of bodyguards and said, ”Let's eat something together. Since this morning, I haven't had a single thing to eat yet. ”