In the boundless dark depths, the Star Ocean sailed with a blue-white light.

For the three astronauts sitting in the cockpit, navigating the vast universe is quite an amazing feeling.

Because they follow the Moon's trajectory, they sometimes face the Sun when sailing.

At this time, except for the incandescent bright star, the surrounding area is pitch black, and it is not until the edge of the view that a glimmer of distant star flashes.

At this time, they were like sailing in the abyss, except for the light of the sun, the surrounding area was dark and dead, as if they were at the bottom of the endless sea.

And when sailing to the sun with their backs to the sun, or when the sun is obscured by the earth, the endless stars shimmer in the Milky Way.

It is a splendid scene that is 10,000 times brighter than looking at the sky from the earth, making them feel as if they are in the middle of a world.

Two wonderful sensations are intertwined and addictive.

After nearly forty hours of sailing, outside the Star Sea, the silver-gray bright moon was finally close in front of him.

Looking at the planet full of craters visible to the naked eye, Zhai Zhigang, who was holding the steering stick, took a deep breath, pressed his left hand on the helmet, and said quickly and clearly:

"This is the Star Ocean, call the control center, we are about to arrive at the lunar orbit, ready to switch the orbit, ask for approval!"

In the headset, after more than a second of silence, accompanied by a faint sound of electricity, the voice of the ground command center was transmitted.

"Ground command center received, approve request!"

"Roger!"

Clenching the joystick with both hands, Zhai Zhigang took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and looked at his companion in the co-pilot seat beside him.

The two glanced at each other, nodded to each other, and steered the Star Ocean towards the silver-gray planet.

In the cockpit, sitting in the rear seat of the occupant, staring at the planet that was getting closer and closer to him, Liu Yang felt that his heartbeat was accelerating.

Anticipation, nervousness, apprehension, excitement. There were a lot of feelings that she couldn't put into words.

With the adjustment of the orbit of the space shuttle Xinghai, the atmosphere in the live broadcast room is like a summer heat wave, hitting wave after wave.

[It's here!] It's here! It's finally here! 】

[However, I have no culture, a sentence of lying in the world, lying in the groove, awesome! ] 】

[I'm the same!] 】

[Comrades, don't be deceived, we don't have this kind of technology, this is a PS video taken on Want Want Snow Cakes, really (////)]

[The battle is online (dog head)]

[The moon has been an inherent territory of our country since ancient times. Our country has indisputable support for it! 】

[Tell me out loud, what is our journey to the moon?] 】

【Grow vegetables!】 】

【Dry rice!! 】

[Giving birth to three children!!! 】

[This moon is dry and dry, with a pit on its face, not mellow at all, coil it! ] 】

[Huh~ There are a lot of pits, it looks like a person's face is covered with acne, or poke it and left a pomp hole. 】

[Sure enough, distance produces beauty, and the moon is so beautiful on the earth, but this close distance, tsk, is really ugly. 】

As the moon gets closer and closer to Xinghai, the emotions in the live broadcast room are boiling higher and higher, and countless people are looking forward to it.

And what we are looking forward to is not only the hundreds of millions of viewers squatting in front of mobile phones, computers and televisions, but also all the staff of the space center.

Looking at the bright planet that seemed to be within reach, everyone in the control center couldn't help but hold their breath, for fear that the movement on their side could interfere with the Xinghai hundreds of thousands of kilometers away.

The success of the orbit will determine whether the next moon landing will go smoothly.

Although the ability of the Star Ocean is still capable of readjusting even if it misses the first orbit, there is no doubt that it is more risky to do so.

For all the people in the space center, the success of the first orbit is not only a great expectation, but also an affirmation of their strength in the field of spaceflight.

On the other side, above the distant lunar orbit.

In the cockpit of the Xinghai, Zhai Zhigang controlled the space shuttle and slowly headed towards the moon.

Before entering the perilunar point to launch the lunar probe, they also have to enter the lunar orbit, commonly known as the 12-hour orbit, that is, the time it takes for the satellite to orbit the planet is 12 hours.

After entering this orbit, they will first go around for a period of time, repeatedly check the space shuttle and lunar landing equipment, and then adjust the orbit to continue the descent after confirming that they are correct.

Just as Zhai Zhi was just switching tracks, in the cockpit, Liu Yang, who was sitting in the back row, seemed to have discovered something, she crawled over with her hands and feet, and looked at the front of the cockpit.

In the distance, a spacecraft that looks like a cone and a phage are connected together is sailing in lunar orbit.

Taking a deep breath, Liu Yang cautiously said with some trills: "Captain, Brother Dong, look over there!" ”

Hearing her voice, the two of them followed their gaze and moved away.

The spacecraft floating in the lunar orbit in the distance caught their eyes, and both of them were stunned for a moment.

Looking at the spaceship sailing in mid-air in the distance, Zhai Zhigang said with some suspicion: "This is?" The Artemis moon landing ship over there? ”

A good line of sight allowed him to clearly see the spacecraft that was quickly passing in front of the cockpit, and his rich knowledge of aerospace also made him recognize at a glance what this strange device flying in front of him was.

Although there are some lunar exploration satellites on the moon that have not crashed when launched by various countries, he knows the shape of those satellites very well, and none of them can match the spacecraft that will be seen.

Moreover, because of the uneven distribution of the moon's gravity, in order to maintain a longer period of exploration, lunar exploration satellites generally maintain a high orbit and are unlikely to appear at their current altitude.

Of course, what made him confirm that this was the core factor of NASA's Artemis lunar exploration spacecraft was that before landing on the moon, he had watched NASA's press conference and seen NASA's lunar lander.

There is no doubt that the spacecraft that is rapidly passing from lunar orbit in front of you is the Artemis lunar landing ship launched by NASA a few days ago.

It's just that what makes him a little puzzled is that from a morphological point of view, the other party doesn't seem to have dropped a lunar lander yet?

The thoughts in his mind passed quickly, and after a moment of silence in the cockpit, Zhai Zhigang and his two teammates glanced at each other, and they couldn't help but swallow their saliva.

If the Artemis moon landing ship has not yet been launched, will they have a chance to get to the moon first?

Thinking about it, the breathing of the three of them became a little heavy.

Especially for Liu Yang, as the only female astronaut among the three, if she can land on the moon before NASA, she will be the first woman to land on the moon!

I originally thought that this opportunity had been taken away by the United States, but I didn't expect that there seemed to be a chance now?

Taking a deep breath, Zhai Zhigang quickly reached out and pressed the button on the astronaut helmet, and quickly called the ground command center.

On the other side, in the space base.

The passage of Artemis to the moon was not only seen by the three astronauts, but also by all the staff in the control center, recorded by the radar and camera equipment of the Star Ocean.

The Artemis moon landing ship that rowed from low orbit caught Xu Chuan's eyes and made him stand up suddenly.

Beside him, Wu Yuankang of the Space Agency also stood up excitedly, his fists against each other, and his face was a little flushed.

As predicted, the Artemis moon landing ship of the United States has not yet completed the moon landing, and they still have a chance to achieve the moon landing first!

Taking a breath, he quickly walked to Xu Chuan's side and asked excitedly, "Academician Xu, how much chance do you think we can take the lead in landing on the moon?" ”

Hearing the inquiry, Xu Chuan turned his head, thought for a while, and replied: "Not sure, judging from the information released by NASA before combined with the current picture, the Artemis moon landing ship has arrived in a circular orbit of 3.5 hours, which is ahead of us." ”

"But when they will switch from the 3.5-hour circular orbit to the polar launch orbit, we don't have accurate information, we can't tell."

Aside from their unique way of broadcasting the whole moon landing this time, the traditional space moon landing activities, the relevant node information is generally disclosed to the public after the spacecraft successfully arrives at the node, and then the space agency will disclose it to the official website in real time.

Previously, whether it was a multinational unmanned exploration operation or the process of NASA's Artemis moon landing on the moon, it was such a process.

After all, before the actual landing on the moon, no one dares to guarantee whether they will be able to calculate and plan their actions according to the orbit smoothly.

As for the more detailed information such as 'orbit planning' and 'launch plan' and the corresponding time nodes, that is information that only the space agency's internal personnel will know. Even if the moon landing is completed, countries will not normally make it public.

This is also the reason why Xu Chuan will deduce from the information provided by Director Wu Yuankang that they have a chance to land on the moon first.

Because they didn't know the progress and situation on NASA's side at the beginning, they were only able to know when NASA announced the moon landing node and time information.

That's why they didn't think much about it before.

After all, who would have thought that NASA, which was able to control the time of multiple Apollo manned moon landings about 100 hours earlier in the last century, would spend more than 150 hours on the moon this time?

Looking at the shooting picture transmitted back by the Xinghai, in the headset, the contact of the Xinghai was also transmitted.

"This is the Star Ocean, and we have learned the situation in detail. After the discussion of the three people, we now apply to shorten the orbit time around the moon by 12 hours, and launch the lunar lander in advance to carry out the lunar landing work! ”

In the headset, the calm voice of Zhai Zhigang, the leader of the astronaut team, was transmitted back from the distant surface of the moon.

Not only does the control center hope to complete a manned landing on the moon before NASA, but they are also desperate to get on the moon one step ahead.

In addition to various scientific research activities, it is also the mission of all countries to compete for the first place in all kinds of spaceflight.

If we can land on the moon before NASA and complete the miraculous last-mover first-come, this will undoubtedly raise China's status in the aerospace field!

If they could, the three of them would be willing to give everything, including their lives, to complete this transcendence.

In the control center, standing in front of the monitoring console, looking at the astronauts who were staring at the camera and communicating with them through the monitoring screen in the cockpit, Xu Chuan refused without hesitation.

"No, it is extremely risky to compress the time around the moon and land on the moon in advance, and the first task of the first moon landing is to successfully complete the moon landing project, not to land on the moon before NASA and continue the mission according to the original plan!"

Regarding Zhai Zhigang's application to land on the moon first, he directly rejected it.

After a short delay, the sound of the Star Ocean was transmitted again.

"With Xinghai's propulsion ability, I am confident enough to drive it to the moon ahead of schedule! Request approval for an early moon landing. ”

"Continue the mission according to the original plan!"

Staring at the surveillance, Xu Chuan once again rejected the applications of the three astronauts without hesitation.

Indeed, with the propulsion capacity of the Xinghai, it is not impossible to compress the orbit time and forcibly reduce the altitude, but it is always extremely risky to expand beyond the plan.

In particular, the work of landing on the moon ahead of schedule is 380,000 kilometers away, and in case of an accident, they will not even be able to rescue them.

If this preemption required three astronauts to risk their lives to do it, he would rather not.

"Yes!"

After a brief reply, there was a deep silence between the Earth and Moon again.

In the control center, standing behind Xu Chuan, Wu Yuankang smashed his lips twice, but finally did not speak.

He knew that such an arrangement was the safest.

On the Xinghai, the co-pilot, looking at the Artemis moon landing ship that had disappeared into the sky, he sighed with some regret, he looked at Zhai Zhigang a little unwillingly, and after hesitating for a while, he still said tentatively:

"Captain, if we can get ahead."

In the main driver's seat, Zhai Zhigang shook his head with a resolute face, and looked at him with a serious look: "Execute the order!" ”

"Yes!"

With a sigh of relief, Chen Dong focused his attention back and fully cooperated with Zhai Zhigang to continue to drive the Xinghai to complete the orbit switching.

The request to launch the moon in time for Artemis to land on the moon was a joint discussion between the three men, and although the discussion was short, none of them approved the proposal without any objection.

It's just a pity that the ground command center rejected their application.

Although this was a refusal to protect their lives to the greatest extent, it still brought a trace of regret to the hearts of all three.

After all, as a military man, they prefer to give themselves if the country needs it.

(End of chapter)