Because the process of testing the ion thruster is a process of gradually increasing the power of the thruster, it will take more than 40 hours.

In the beginning, the Starry Sky ion thruster operated at a low power of 10%, then gradually increased to 20%, 30% until the final maximum power of 100%, and by the time the Starry Sky thruster reached 100% propulsion power, the lunar spacecraft was not far from the moon.

From this vantage point, the Moon is larger than the Earth, and the dark gray Moon is the largest celestial body in all of space. And when you look at the earth at this distance, the earth is even more beautiful.

At this time, the earth has completely turned into a blue and white planet, the blue is the ocean, and the white is the clouds in the sky. And under the illumination of the sun, the entire planet's atmosphere is revealed, giving the earth another layer of hazy feeling.

The moon, on the other hand, is much uglier. Looking at the Moon from this distance, even without the help of telescopic equipment, you can see the surface of the Moon very clearly. Those huge, cratered craters give the gray moon a touch of decadence and a faint smell of death.

There is no way, who let the moon have no atmosphere and cannot protect the lunar surface. Those meteorites, no matter how big or small, can "kiss" Sister Moon's skin unscrupulously, turning a good planet into potholes, just like a beautiful woman with an excellent figure with a hemp on her face

During this period, Tang Feng and five other astronauts will have video conversations with their loved ones through video every day, and under the current communication technology, this kind of ultra-long-distance video call has become very simple, and because this is a video call between space and the earth, the technology used can be said to be the best, and the two sides sit in front of the video head to talk. It's even clearer than using a penguin video chat at home.

In fact, by this time, Tang Feng's excitement had passed, and a boring mentality gradually permeated Tang Feng's heart.

Although the area of the lunar spacecraft is not small, enough for six people to toss in it, it is constantly facing the cold and endless deep space every day, and seeing in addition to the "old three" of the sun, the earth and the moon. You won't be able to see any other scenery anymore, and after a long time, it will naturally make people feel bored.

However, it is obvious that in addition to Tang Feng, a space rookie, **** and Du Yun are also two out-and-out space rookies, but they have also experienced extremely strict training, and the kind of psychological training is even more changeable. state, so in this case, the two of them are very calm.

As for the other three foreigners. They had long been blind to this situation, and it had only been a few days, which was a drizzle for their previous experience of living in space for dozens or even hundreds of days.

At this point, the lunar spacecraft will begin to change its orbit, which is to change the previous straight walk to a curved walk, so that when approaching the moon, it can tangent to the orbit around the moon. If you rush over it so straight, you will end up being captured by the gravitational pull of the moon. Then the entire lunar spacecraft will plunge headlong into the surface of the moon like a meteorite. Aside from leaving a small crater on the surface of the moon, there is nothing left.

In order to successfully land on the moon, the lunar spacecraft must start to slow down when it is still tens of thousands of kilometers away from the orbit around the moon, because the gravitational pull of the moon is too small, if the speed of the lunar spacecraft is too fast. Then the gravitational pull of the moon will not be able to capture the lunar spacecraft, and the lunar spacecraft will pass by the moon.

Only when the speed of the lunar spacecraft slows down to a certain low speed and then tangential to the orbit around the moon, will the lunar spacecraft be captured by the moon's gravity, making the lunar spacecraft an artificial satellite of the moon. In order to land on the surface of the moon, the lunar spacecraft must orbit around the moon at an altitude of 100 km to 118 km from the lunar surface. After the spacecraft reaches a suitable position, the lunar module is lowered, and then the lunar module will descend to the lunar surface in an arc-shaped landing line.

On the Explorer team, George. Anthony and **** are the first and second commanders respectively, and they are also the first and second pilots of the lunar spacecraft.

The operation of the lunar spacecraft is actually not complicated, most of this extremely advanced spacecraft are automated, and the pilot only needs to cooperate with the operation, and he can control this big guy freely.

"Han, now there are still 43,000 kilometers to the orbit around the moon, now turn off the main engine, start the deceleration engine, we have to reduce the speed to the specified speed within four hours." As commander, George. Anthony will issue orders strictly according to the data calculated by the computer.

In this kind of operation, although the computer is the main force of calculation, but the command must be issued by the commander himself, unless it is a special case, you are the only one left on the ship, otherwise even if there are only two people left, one of them must take on the role of commander.

Now it's normal, so all orders on board the ship are commanded by George. Anthony sent.

"Yes, sir, Robin, turn off the main engine and start the deceleration engine." Repeat George. Anthony's order, of course, the instruction that came out of the mouth of the ****, added specific operators.

Robin. Croso is an expert in power, and he is responsible for all the engines on the moon.

Robin. Corosso repeated the command again, and then turned off the main engine, but the speed of the spacecraft at this time was already as high as 40,000 km/h, even if the engine was turned off, in a vacuum, the spacecraft could continue to maintain this speed by inertia, and under the gravitational pull of the moon, this speed could only get faster and faster.

Only by activating the deceleration engine and continuously jetting air from the head of the ship can the speed of the ship be reduced.

This deceleration engine is powered by chemical fuels. Compared to the smoothness of the ion thrusters, the thrust of the chemical fuel engine is undoubtedly more violent, because when the deceleration engine is started, the continuous jetting of air immediately slows down the speed of the spacecraft.

At a distance of more than 43,000 kilometers, the deceleration engine has to be turned on and off hundreds of times in a row, and each time the deceleration engine is started, it will spray three to five seconds of deceleration airflow, and after hundreds of decelerations, the lunar spacecraft finally succeeded in reducing the speed to the specified speed before reaching the orbit around the moon.

When the lunar spacecraft successfully entered the orbit around the moon at an altitude of 112 kilometers from the lunar surface, and began to orbit the moon at a frequency of 120 minutes per week, the real lunar landing operation began to enter the countdown. (To be continued.) )