Back to 1980: Please Love Me Again

Chapter 340 Space Shuttle Challenger
Beautiful country, Kennedy Space Center.

It seems that the distance is only one or two kilometers, but it took nearly an hour and a half for the carrier platform, and after more than half an hour of unloading, the space shuttle and the upper platform were finally placed on the rocket launching platform.

The carrier platform at the bottom slowly drove back along the original road.

During this process, Zhao Wenmu gave Zhao Wenqiu a lot of knowledge about the space shuttle.

"The big orange cylinder is the external fuel tank of the space shuttle, which contains liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. If you look carefully at the bottom of the space shuttle, can you see a few rocket nozzles, where are the engines of the space shuttle, and the big orange tank is Fuel them!"

"What are the two white slender columns next to them? They should look like rockets!"

"Those two are the booster rockets of the space shuttle, which generally use solid fuel."

Although the space shuttle is very different from traditional aircraft, its shape still has some characteristics of aircraft, but these three cylinders are very inconsistent.

"When I first heard about the space shuttle, I thought it was just like an airplane, taxiing on the runway to take off!"

Zhao Wenqiu recalled.

"Me too, I thought this thing was a plane that flew higher."

In fact, there is no difference between a space shuttle launch and a rocket launch.

The difference is that it can return to the ground completely, just like an ordinary aircraft taxiing and landing on the runway.

And the rocket just falls as wreckage.

"The space shuttle went into space with this big canister and two rockets?"

"Of course not. The booster rockets will fall off a few minutes after take-off, and they will land on the sea according to the established trajectory, protected by parachutes. At that time, NASA will salvage them, repair them and reuse them. Orange fuel tanks Then it falls off and gets incinerated by the atmosphere."

In fact, the only thing that cannot be reused in the entire space shuttle is this huge fuel tank.

"Wow, so a space shuttle launch is just a waste of some fuel!"

The little girl was shocked by Zhao Wenmu's explanation. Is the cost of a space shuttle launch so low?

Indeed, if you only consider the cost of fuel, it is only a few million dollars at most.

Isn't Musk's SpaceX company dedicated to rocket recycling?
It has always been Musk's dream to control the single launch cost of the starship to less than 200 million US dollars, or even further reduce it, so that it is no longer a dream for ordinary people to enter space.

At least his money-making stunt.

"In theory, this is the case, but considering the extremely high construction cost of the space shuttle, the annual depreciation is not a small amount, not to mention the continuous repair and maintenance."

"There's even the risk of a failed launch that destroys the aircraft, and the overall cost is still extremely expensive."

Zhao Wenmu explained carefully.

In fact, the space shuttle is not economical in general, otherwise NASA will not retire the remaining few in the 21st century.

When Huaguo developed manned spaceflight, thousands of scholars were organized to conduct discussions, most of whom advocated the development of space shuttles.At that time, Mr. Qian, who had retired to the second line, only gave one suggestion after reading the plan:
The spacecraft plan should also be reported to the central government.

This already shows his attitude.

Manned spaceships, not space shuttles.

This is also the development direction of Huaguo in the following decades.

Of course, Qian Lao does not mean that the space shuttle is not advanced.

On the contrary, he thought the space shuttle was too advanced.

Huaguo, which was so advanced that it was not suitable for that time, even the beautiful country and Big Brother may not really have the strength to play space shuttles.

This is indeed the case.

Big Brother's only finished product, the Buran, has only ever flown uncrewed once.

The beautiful country has carried out more than 100 manned flights, and sent more than 800 astronauts into space, but eventually retired all space shuttles.

"The space shuttle is still at risk of being destroyed?!"

Zhao Wenqiu was taken aback by his words.

Indeed, she never thought of this possibility, because there is no precedent for this matter.

"Surely, isn't space launch failure very common? The space shuttle is no exception."

Spaceflight is inherently a dangerous thing.

In fact, human exploration of the sky is always accompanied by sacrifices.

Big Brother cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was the first human to die in the vast sea of ​​stars.

In 1967, the Soyuz [-] he was on crashed when returning to the ground due to the failure of the main parachute, and Komarov's body was not preserved.

In July 1971, the Apollo 7 spacecraft landed on the moon. Astronaut David Scott placed an aluminum sculpture called "Falling Astronaut" on the moon, next to a piece with 15 Monument of a name.

The name of Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov was placed first.

Yang Liwei, the first Chinese astronaut to enter space, didn't he set foot on the spacecraft with the awareness of sacrifice?

"Then, what about the astronauts on it?"

"There is a special escape passage on the launch pad. After entering the passage, the astronauts can take the cable car to quickly leave the launch pad and slide down to the ground not far away. Here, do you see the cable over there?"

Zhao Wenmu pointed to the distance.

A closer look through a telescope reveals several sloping cables that connect to the launch pad at one end and lead to the ground at the other end.

"Does it really work?"

Zhao Wenqiu was very skeptical about this.

When the plane is on the launch pad, it can quickly escape through the cable, but what about after the plane takes off?
"It's useless."

Zhao Wenmu said lightly.

The little girl covered her mouth in surprise.

Zhao Wenmu sighed softly in his heart.

Just at the beginning of next year, this beautiful space shuttle will turn into the most expensive fireworks in human history, and all seven astronauts on it will die.

At that time, the little girl in the beautiful country may witness all this with her own eyes.

Thinking of this, he suddenly lost interest.

Exploring space is related to the fate of all mankind, and he does not think that the failure of the beautiful country deserves their cheers.

On the contrary, it is a blessing for everyone in the world that someone is exploring the way ahead with enormous human and material resources and sacrifices.

As the great man said, cross the river by feeling the stones.

The beautiful country is the stone under our feet.

At least for a long time, this stone still has a very important reference for us.

So, it's not a good thing if it's gone.

Of course, sooner or later we will surpass it.

At that time, others will cross the river by touching the footprints we stepped on.

Zhao Wenmu only hopes that this day will come soon.

"Let's go, go back to the hotel and rest for a while! The second sister and the others will be there tomorrow morning."

Although the two of them don't need to drive these few days, it is also very hard work to stay in the car all day.

The four major happy events in life are the rain in the rain after a long drought, meeting an old acquaintance in a foreign country, the wedding night in the bridal chamber, and when you are named on the gold list. It is always a happy thing to be able to meet your loved ones in this foreign country.

"Oh yeah!"

Zhao Wenqiu couldn't help but let out a cheer.

　Thank you for being unable to keep her monthly ticket~
　　Thank you all for your votes~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)