Chapter 1272 - Launching Ceremony (1/2)

Aside from the LightSail that could in theory reach one-fifth the speed of light, the Envoy-class would be the largest and fastest manned spacecraft in human history.

It was a glory to be able to witness this very moment.

Not to mention he was the chief designer that personally made this project from just drawings into a reality.

“This is too massive…” Lu Hao stood beside Jiang Chen as he also examined the Envoy-class. After a long silence, he finally let out a sigh. “I’m afraid that only the Ford-class aircraft carrier along with all the ships in the battle group connected form end-and-end can be comparable to its length.”

As the admiral of the Hua National Navy, the former captain of the Nanning destroyer, he had seen many ships in his lifetime and even went to inspect the Liaoning aircraft carrier. He vaguely remembered that the last time he made a similar remark was when he participated in the UA Pacific Joint Military Exercise as an observer where stood on top of the deck of the Eisenhower nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

It was also the time when he was firmly convinced that that he must do everything to convince his superiors to develop nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

Today, many years later, he once again felt the same way.

But more than his feelings, he did not know how he could catch up. Celestial Trade’s effort to help allowed all member states to make rapid progress in aerospace technology. Now, at least in the field of space mining, the member states could independently complete mining missions without the need for Future Mining’s technology consultants.

However, compared to the development of Celestial Trade, the word rapid must be placed inside quotation marks. Since compared to Celestial Trade’s leap forward, their progress was like a snail crawling.

When he thought of this, he cursed at the politicians in Wanghai countless times in his mind.

How stupid do you have to be to force such a talent to leave?

But it was only an afterthought.

“Is it big?” Jiang Chen laughed, narrowed his eyes as he examined the starship once again. “It’s indeed big, but in our space defense plan, this is not the biggest ship.”

“How much bigger can a ship get?” former ESA Director Anthony Leibniz, a representative from EU, stared at Jiang Chen, and asked incredulously, “You mean, this is not the biggest?”

“Yes,” Jiang Chen said with certainty. “The Envoy-class is only a million tons. There will be a Constitutional-class, Lord-class, and Emperor-class… Our ultimate goal is to build a billion-ton starship, capable of hosting 100,000 crew members and allow one hundred percent material circulation inside the starship with sufficient energy.”

Looking at the dumbfounded expression of the representatives, Jiang Chen smiled and said in a joking tone.

“Of course, we still have to do this step-by-step. With our current progress, the million-ton class is more than sufficient. By the time we finally achieve our ultimate goal, we’ll probably have all turned into dust…”

Everyone laughed in good faith.

After a pause, Jiang Chen said.

“The Envoy-class starship has the same meaning for us as the first aircraft carrier. The purpose is to gain experience and lay the foundation for the future construction of a large-scale fleet. The only attack weapon on the starship is the mass transmitter that runs through the entire ship’s hull, mainly used to launch Stingray X-1.”

With 2,000 soldiers on board, all officers and soldiers were ready to set sail.