The technological competition starts with the integration of space-time memory

Chapter 354 The Death of the Empire
Before Mark finished speaking, a noisy sound suddenly came from the crowd around him.

"You don't understand. This rocket can be recovered."

"But don't you think the falling rocket looks wrong?"

"Let me take a look...it seems a little crooked!"

"Cake seller, this is really crooked, isn't it?"

"Where do you think this rocket will land?"

"It should be quite far from here."

"No, I heard that it will be recovered at the launch site like Datang Aerospace did across the ocean, so it should land here."

"Hey, it seems to have really fallen here!"

"Will it fall on our heads?"

"I do not know……"

……

Mark was attracted by these sounds and couldn't help but look up at the falling first-stage rocket.

His expression suddenly changed.

Faku, there is definitely something wrong with this attitude!

He stood up, looked around, and saw a staff member not far away.

Mark ran over and said to the man, "Give me your walkie-talkie."

The man hurriedly took off the walkie-talkie and handed it to Mark.

At this time, Mark's action had already caused the distinguished guests on the viewing stand to talk about it.

"Looking at Mark's expression, is this launch going to fail again?"

"Wouldn't it be a waste of our money?"

"Do you think we can invest more money in Mark and let him continue to burn it?"

"As long as the Empire's funding is there, we will eventually succeed. Can we continue to invest?"

"I don't know. I'm worried that my money will go down the drain."

"It would be great if Datang Aerospace also went public, so that we can invest our consortium's money there."

"It's not certain that Datang Aerospace will be able to do it. I remember that more than a month ago, they said they were going to land on Mars, but suddenly there was no news."

"Yeah, maybe it failed."

"Really? If Tang Aerospace failed to land on Mars, then it is even more impossible for Mark to succeed, right?"

"Yes, it seems that it is still too far away. Think about it, how long will it take for the control signal to reach there?"

"Yes, now the distance between Blue Planet and Mars is 2.25 million kilometers!"

……

Amidst the discussions, Mark contacted Ham Nick in the command hall.

"Nick, what happened? Why is the first-stage rocket recovery posture so abnormal?"

Ham Nick's panicked voice came over, "For some reason, the first and second stage rockets separated before reaching 100 kilometers.

Then, during separation, a problem occurred with the second-stage rocket, and a small explosion occurred.

The first stage now carries a small portion of the second stage's debris.

Therefore, during the recovery process of the first-stage rocket, the entire attitude control was completely unbalanced."

When Mark heard this, his eyes instantly turned red.

"How could such a low-level and serious mistake happen? What about the Starship 1 spacecraft?"

Ham Nick replied: "The Starship 1 spacecraft and another part of the second-stage rocket have been directly detonated by us over the Atlantic Ocean at this moment."

"Falco!" Mark couldn't help but swear.

Ham Nick continued: "Mark, the problem now is that the first-stage rocket is in the recovery phase, and the signal between us and it has been interrupted.

The detonation signal we sent could not be received by it. It seemed to be still following the recovery procedure and was now falling towards the launch site.

Look, should we evacuate the crowd immediately?

After all, we cannot be sure whether it can land accurately on the recovery tower. What if it deviates to the viewing area..."

Mark looked up. Although the sun was about to set, the afterglow still illuminated the entire sky.

He could clearly see that the first-stage rocket was falling from less than 100 kilometers and had now reached an altitude of about 20 kilometers from the ground.

If it had not fallen to such a height, the crowd watching on the ground would not have noticed that there was a problem with the rocket.

In particular, the guys with the telescopes were the first to notice that something was wrong with the rocket's attitude.

In fact, the starships prepared for landing on Mars had been blown up for fun before.

However, with every launch failure or starship explosion, SpaceX has indeed learned great lessons and inspiration.

So much so that the technology of the next version of starship will be further improved.

However, in previous Starship launch failures, there has never been a case of the first and second stage rockets separating prematurely, and the separation was incomplete.

However, previous launches were conducted in Texas, and the spectators were far away from the recovery site. When a launch fails, whether it is an explosion or falling debris, it will not affect the spectators.

But due to the unrest in Texas, Mark and Firwin want to ensure the smooth progress of the Mars colonization plan.

All launch missions were moved to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Even the Donkey Party in California used this as an opportunity to create a certain separation between itself and the federal government.

In other words, if the Donald Trump Party loses this year's election and the Elephant Party wants to cause trouble after coming to power, it will not affect the continued launch of the Mars colonization plan in California.

It can be seen that in order to smoothly implement the plan to colonize Mars, the part of the Donkey Party controlled by the Symbiosis Society will not hesitate to completely separate California.

At this moment, Mark clearly saw that the first-stage rocket that was in the recovery process was falling towards the launch site like an intercontinental missile.

"Nick, immediately, broadcast and notify all spectators to evacuate!"

"Mark, if we broadcast the notification directly, the evacuation order will be disrupted. I'm afraid..."

Mark yelled into the intercom: "Forget about order, the rocket is falling, and if the recovery procedure fails, it's like a bomb!
Also, the time it takes to fall doesn't allow you to evacuate in an orderly manner.

Hurry up, issue an evacuation broadcast immediately!"

Mark was standing not far from the VIP viewing area at the moment, and his roar reached the VIP area directly.

The people in the VIP area were stunned at first, and then they ran out of the VIP area like crazy.

This viewing area is not far from the launch site, but is still a few kilometers away from the base exit.

The people in the VIP area suddenly ran towards the exit, while the people in other areas had not yet reacted.

At this moment, the radio suddenly spoke.

"Please pay attention, there is a problem with the recovery of the first stage rocket. All spectators are requested to evacuate the viewing area in an orderly manner. Please be sure to evacuate towards the exit!"

"Please pay attention, everyone please evacuate to the exit as soon as possible!"

……

This broadcast was broadcast continuously, instantly igniting the crowd in the viewing area.

Everyone was running like crazy, and then someone fell down, someone was trampled, someone...

There were tens of thousands of people coming here to watch the ceremony today, and the broadcast almost instantly caused tens of thousands of people to run in chaos.

If the Starship launch was not moved to the launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, it would still be on the coast of the small town of Boca Chica at the end of Highway 4 in Texas.

Then, even if the first-stage rocket crashes to the ground, it will not have a direct impact on the spectators.

Because the crowd watching the ceremony there was separated by a small bay, the distance was at least 5 kilometers.

Unlike here today, the viewing area is only 3 kilometers away from the launch site, and the launch site is the recovery site.

This is learned from Datang Aerospace. On the one hand, we don't want to be outdone by Datang Aerospace, and on the other hand, this also saves some costs.

Who would have thought that the first launch of a starship here would result in such a failure.

Looking down from a high altitude, the crowd looked like ants running towards the exit of the base.

But in fact, in such a short time, it is difficult for people to run one kilometer away from the viewing area.

The first-stage rocket, still carrying a small portion of the second-stage rocket debris, just swayed and fell down.

It seemed to want to fall vertically according to the recovery procedure and then move horizontally towards the recovery tower.

But it had already lost its balance, and because it had fallen so quickly, it had not fallen sideways.

At this moment, due to the slowdown in speed, the rocket fell down instantly.

The key point is, by coincidence, it fell over, causing the entire first-stage rocket to fall like a missile.

Falling at this inertial angle, it should have fallen vertically toward the recovery tower at the launch site.

As a result, it hit the edge of the viewing area directly!
The huge figure of the first-stage rocket fell with a loud bang, and the liquid oxygen and methane fuel that had not been used up instantly exploded and caught fire.

A patch of orange flame swept across the entire viewing area, and anyone who was close to it was burned to death.

Those who were far away were also directly ignited by the heat wave.

In an instant, the one-kilometer radius of the viewing area became a hell on earth like a raging furnace!

Ham Nick was in the command hall, staring at the scene in amazement.

The picture stopped at the moment of explosion.

Because all the cameras and surveillance probes at the scene were reduced to ashes in an instant.

There were already sounds of crying in the command hall, and even those who didn't cry out loud had tears rolling down their cheeks.

They have been engaged in the aerospace industry for many years and have never experienced such a terrible accident.

Ham Nick murmured after a while: "Mark, Mark——"

In that case, Mark, who was in the viewing area, would definitely not be able to escape the disaster.

He picked up the phone and dialed.

"Hello, is this 911? This is the launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The starship launch just failed, causing heavy casualties. Please send all ambulances immediately!"

Inside Vandenberg Air Force Base, fire trucks had already roared out.

How many people will die in this disaster?
Ham Nick knew that it would definitely not be less than five figures!

Today will surpass the day in 2001 and become the saddest day in the empire!
(End of this chapter)