Moon, South Pole.

Inside a crater basin with a radius of several tens of kilometers.

More than a dozen space capsules are stacked in a sandy area, and the signs on the capsule are all Earthlink + xxx, of which the space capsule of Earthlink + Free Commonwealth is the most, and then Earthlink + Seris, Earthlink + Europa, Earthlink + Lucia.

Apparently these capsules were launched to the moon by the Earth Union Association.

After a big wave of oolongs last year, they finally didn't dare to let Musk and the Pentagon launch microcommunication satellites casually.

After all, just to remove this space junk, they wasted nearly a year of launches from the Jeju Island space tower project.

If you don't clean it up, if you let this space junk continue to stir up, not to mention competing with Homo sapiens, even if the spacecraft passes through low-earth orbit, it will be extremely difficult.

Therefore, the evil fruit of their own cultivation can only be swallowed by themselves.

Anyway, Homo sapiens' spacecraft has armor and has a special channel itself, and during the launch window, it will clean up some of the space junk on the channel.

The Earth Alliance did not dare to use the same route as Homo sapiens' spacecraft.

Don't ask why.

The question is that they were overshadowed by Homo sapiens.

Sapiens spacecraft can pass safely, and when their spacecraft passes through that route, it is directly halfway through the protective layer of the fuel tank by tiny space junk, and then adds a large pile of space junk to low-earth orbit.

Therefore, Dilian does not dare to use the same route as Homo sapiens now.

After all, Homo sapiens' spacecraft has thick skin, very good armor materials, and is surrounded by dead light satellites, so it can naturally ignore tiny space junk.

But this kind of daring behavior of the artist is obviously impossible to learn.

As a last resort, the Earth Federation could only grit its teeth and put a lot of capacity into cleaning up space junk.

……

Earth's lunar south pole base.

It was during this period that the space agencies of the four major powers cobbled together 21 launch vehicles in more than a year, of which 5 failed.

That is, this base currently has 16 capsules.

At present, there are no astronauts stationed at this base, but through remote control, robots are operated to explore the surrounding area, and at the same time, some simple and pre-set scientific research work is carried out by using the automation equipment inside the space capsule.

Recently, the Earth Federation finally made up its mind and decided to send five astronauts to the lunar south pole base for an eight-month scientific research.

The reasons for the determination of the Ground Alliance are very complex.

On the one hand, the expansion rate of Homo sapiens on the moon is too fast, and it has built 3 large bases and 17 small research stations (single capsule type) on the front side of the moon; There is also 1 large project on the far side of the Moon, and 11 small research stations.

If the progress of the lunar project is not accelerated, the Earth Federation may lose the moon completely.

On the other hand, it is the pressure from within the four major forces, after all, this is a project with an investment of hundreds of billions, and now there is no sound at all, and many people are doubting the ability of the Earth Alliance.

In order to calm the internal discontent, even if the Earth Federation knew that the infrastructure of the moon base was not perfect, it could only bite the bullet.

Another reason is that as space junk becomes less and less, the launch mission of the Jeju Island space tower can be gradually adjusted.

At the same time, the construction of Ceris and Lucia in the Western Regions has also completed a space tower that is larger than the Jeju Island Space Tower.

This wooden space tower can carry an 800-ton launch vehicle on a high-altitude platform.

The project has already passed three small-scale tests and can be officially put into service.

Sure enough, pressure is the driving force, in order to compete with Homo sapiens, and in order not to lose the future, the construction progress of the timber project is simply fast.

With so much additional carrying capacity, the Earth Union also has a little confidence and begins to prepare for the manned month.

Finally in June.

It was on June 3rd, the third day after the anniversary celebration of Homo sapiens.

From the high platform of the wooden space tower, a large launch vehicle takes off.

Kong De, the president of the Earth Federation Association, and several other senior executives were under the wooden platform of the Tianshan Mountains in the Western Regions, and everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when they saw the launch vehicle safely lifted off on the big screen.

"Zhang, when do you plan to launch the second spacecraft?" Comte asked.

Although he is the president of the Ground Federation, in fact, his job is mainly to coordinate the space agencies of the four major forces and reconcile internal contradictions.

In its day-to-day work, there is no way for the Association to interfere in the day-to-day management of the space agencies of the four major forces.

The man thought for a while, and then flipped through the small notebook in his hand: "The second spacecraft has arrived at the waiting area, and is undergoing the last inspection, if everything goes well, it is expected to be launched in 10 days." ”

“ok。” Comte nodded.

However, the man frowned and asked, "As for the astronauts, haven't you done it yet?" ”

Hearing this, Kong De and the others were also embarrassed.

Because just half a month ago, four Europa astronauts (not the same batch) who were originally scheduled to go to the moon went directly to the Su Yinshi branch of Homo sapiens during their vacation to Sicily.

This made the Europa consortium furious.

Obviously, these astronauts do not want to go to the moon, and as professionally trained astronauts, they know the situation at the south pole base of the moon at this time.

In case something goes wrong on the moon, it is very difficult for the Earth Alliance to rescue the moon, especially in terms of time, which is a big problem.

So the four astronauts secretly discussed it, and then ran away.

Now there is one less astronaut who led to the first landing on the moon.

"If there's really no way, let our astronauts get on it!" The man proposed.

However, Bill the Director of NASA on Conde's side shook his head, and then said with a smile: "I have discussed with Chairman Conde that NASA astronauts will replace Europa astronauts." ”

"Oh? You can also. The man didn't force it.

After all, in this manned mission to the moon, the manpower of the previous four major forces was distributed, and among the five astronauts, NASA 1, Lucia 1, and Europa 1.

At this moment, there was a fierce applause from next door.

Conde quickly diverted the topic: "It seems that the launch was successful." ”

"This is just the first step, let's not open the champagne in the middle of the game." The man calmly reminded.

The others nodded.

After all, this manned moon landing is a big deal, if it fails, it will be a very big blow to the Earth Federation and the entire free world, they are already not confident, and if they fail again, it will really be the end of the calf.

Therefore, this manned landing on the moon can only succeed and not fail.

In order to ensure that nothing goes wrong, three manned spacecraft will be arranged, and another three cargo spacecraft will be arranged to go to the lunar orbit in three batches.

Even if one of the batches fails, the other two batches of ships can be used for emergency response.

These spacecraft will temporarily stop at an altitude of 800~900 kilometers in low-earth orbit, wait for all the spacecraft to be in place, and then fly to the moon in groups.

Although this scheme is very conservative and slow, safety is guaranteed.

Now the Earth Federation and the free world really can't afford to fail.

Apparently they were right to be cautious, because the very next day, the cargo spacecraft launched by SpaceX, was hit by space junk in low-Earth orbit.