Chapter 772: Landing
In addition to the manual control of the landing operation of the Falcon lunar module at the beginning of the separation from the lunar spacecraft, the entire landing process, whether it is the adjustment of the descending attitude of the Falcon or the start and shutdown of the deceleration recoil rocket, is controlled by the computer throughout the whole process.
Today's electronics are very different from the Apollo 17 moon landing 45 years ago, and it's no exaggeration to say that a casual home computer is now faster than the fastest mainframe of the era.
Not to mention the use of all electronic equipment in the entire lunar landing operation, which is currently the pinnacle of human technology, as far as any chip on the falcon lunar module is concerned, it is the most top-notch kind. Therefore, the huge amount of computation required for the landing of the falcon is a breeze for the computer on the falcon.
As the auxiliary recoil rocket continued to slow down the falcon and constantly adjust the landing attitude, when the falcon was about a kilometer away from the lunar surface, the entire falcon had been adjusted to a vertical state, and at this time, the main recoil rocket also began to start, supporting the huge falcon to descend steadily. In the process, four huge aluminum-lithium alloy brackets quickly stretched out from the tail of the Falcon, and these four supports were the landing gear of the Falcon.
When the falcon landed only one meter from the surface of the moon, with the force of the powerful recoil rocket, the entire falcon was almost suspended in the air and stayed vertically in mid-air, of course, the recoil rocket at this time was only one-third of the full power.
This recoil rocket is manufactured using the most advanced technology, which can control the size of its recoil force, which is also a major technological breakthrough of this recoil rocket. Under the control of this technology, the four main recoil rockets on the Falcon are now only using about a third of their power, but they are able to hold the Falcon hovering in mid-air.
In fact, the falcon's recoil rocket is designed according to the standard that the falcon can land vertically on the surface of the earth under full load. Naturally, it has a strong recoil power, not to mention the moon, even if it lands vertically on Mars, it is all proper.
The Falcon hovered at an altitude of one meter from the lunar surface for about half a second, and then continued to descend at a rate of 10 centimeters per second after the power of the recoil rocket dropped. A few seconds later, the four brackets of the Eagle Falcon were firmly supported on the ground of the moon, and the words "successful landing" suddenly appeared on the computer screen in the control room.
The four people, including Tang Feng, were sweating in their palms, after all, it was the first time they had landed on the moon, and it would be a lie to say that they were not nervous.
Now that the landing has been successful, several people cheered excitedly. Joining them in cheering was George Murphy, who stayed behind on the lunar spacecraft more than a hundred kilometers away. Anthony and Alexander. Comrade Borisov.
Of course, there are also several high-definition cameras on the Falcon. The entire landing process filmed by these cameras was also directly sent back to the ground control center on Earth in the form of radio waves, and although the time was more than a second late, it still could not stop the cheers of the staff in the ground control center of the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
From the launch of the Starry Sky 1 launch vehicle to the successful landing of the Falcon on the surface of the moon, it took about 74 hours, a little more than three days. This is also because it took a lot of time to test the lunar spacecraft in geosynchronous transfer orbit after liftoff, and if you go directly to the moon, you will be able to fly from the earth to the moon in less than two days.
The megaphone on the Falcon is on. So whether it's George. The cheers of Comrade Anthony and Alexander, still erupted from the Earth's control center after a short interval of time. All resounded through loudspeakers throughout the Falcon.
And along with the cheers, there were two video screens, one of which was George. Anthony's instant video feed, and the other is an instant messaging screen from the ground control center, which shows Dr. Schmitz's face.
"Don, congratulations. Congratulations to your team, you did it, you did it! Dr. Schmitz is thrilled that this moon landing can be said to be led by this seventy-year-old expert, and both from the design of the lunar spacecraft and the lunar module to the arrangement of the entire operation. It's all the result of the old man's hard work.
Now that the moon landing has finally succeeded after more than a year of preparation, can Dr. Schmitz not be happy? Although this is only the seventh time that a man has landed on the moon, it is enough to lead a moon landing by himself.
The most important thing is that this lunar landing operation is carried out as a manned Mars exploration exercise, as long as this lunar landing operation is successful, then it means that this greater manned Mars exploration program can be launched.
Compared with landing on the moon, landing on Mars is a dream of astronauts.
Tang Feng looked at Dr. Schmitz's gray hair, wrinkles on his face, and his eyes bulging from lack of sleep, and his heart was also stirring. After settling down, Tang Feng smiled and said in an extremely affirmative tone: "Doctor, you have worked hard!" These are your achievements, and we just stand on your shoulders and succeed! Doctor, rest well for two days, recuperate, and when we go back, our manned Mars exploration program will start immediately! Of course, the manned Mars exploration program is still under your full auspices, I will not do anything else, only spend money, how much money is needed, you just ask! ”
After a slight pause of two or three seconds, Dr. Schmitz nodded with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face.
In fact, the pressure on Dr. Schmitz is very great, after all, Tang Feng, a big financier, wants money to give money, and asks people to give people, and the support for Dr. Schmitz can almost be said to have no bottom, if even the moon landing operation is not successful, Dr. Schmitz is really difficult to face Tang Feng.
Now, the Eagle Falcon designed by him has finally successfully landed on the lunar surface, achieving the feat of landing on the moon for the seventh time for a human being, and the pressure on his body has been swept away, which makes the old doctor really completely relaxed.
As for George on the moon spaceship. Anthony and Alexander also sent a message of celebration, and Alexander even joked that when he went to Mars, he would still have to follow, and Tang Feng naturally agreed with a smile.
After the video communication with Dr. Schmitz, Sophia, Tang's relatives, Sam, Sigman, and Mateshitz all had video communication with Tang, and then the relatives of the other astronauts (to be continued). )