Carey: "Based on the STS program of the last century, we speculate that the H2 Space Shuttle will enter service no later than 2018, so NACA's nuclear-powered Space Shuttle will also be able to make its first flight at this point in time. ”

Claire: "......"

"No, it can't be."

Carey: "Why can't it be, compared to them, NACA has built five space shuttles and flown more than a hundred missions.

Now, so many years have passed, the technology is more advanced, and it is easier to build a space shuttle. ”

Claire: "The last Endeavour was built in 1991, and even Boeing probably lost most of the information about the shuttle, and the shuttle was completely obsolete at the time. ”

Carey: "Then apply new technology and make a better space shuttle, Xinyuan can build it, you can build it even more, you are NACA, I bet your funding this year is higher than the market value of XAP, you are the hope of Aramco, the hope of mankind, you can do it." ”

Claire:......

After a long time, Claire replied in a muffled voice: "The STS program has been going on for 20 years, building five space shuttles, costing more than 190 billion US dollars, and it is far from meeting the requirements for reuse, and Congress will not agree."

You know, it was $200 billion in the 70s and 90s, and now it's at least $1,000 billion to compare with that. ”

"No, it's not."

Michael Carey's answer was firm and forceful.

He stood up, put his big-brimmed hat on his head, and straightened his clothes.

"Mr. Claire, please begin preparations for the construction of the nuclear-powered space shuttle now, which I have named...... Nuclear power, that's the NSTS, oops, the Dream Chaser took the name, let me think again;

Future aerospace transportation systems, FATS, what is the codename? Wait, Mr. Director, you don't know anything about the Air Force. ”

Carey told his assistant to pack up his papers and walked out of the intelligence room without looking back.

……

Senate...... No, at the executive meeting of the space agency, a space shuttle also appeared on the projector screen.

In fact, as early as the time when H1 was conducting aerodynamic tests, the space agency carried out, perhaps it should be called the restart of the space shuttle program.

As early as when the "863" plan was proposed, China held the first space shuttle demonstration meeting, and then the 805 and 604 institutes of the Ministry of Space proposed the "Great Wall No. 1" space shuttle.

The Great Wall 1 space shuttle is 24 meters long, has a wingspan of 14 meters, can carry 5 crew members and 5 tons of cargo, and has an orbital mass of 39 tons, which is basically half of Aramco and the alliance, but it is enough for China.

Moreover, with the technology at that time, the requirement was to make the first flight before 2008, and hard work could do it.

The Great Wall-1 project has carried out a lot of preparatory work, not only doing a large number of wind tunnel tests, but also building a simulator for the space shuttle.

Later, when the manned space engineering program was selected, among more than a dozen programs, the Great Wall No. 1 and the Shenzhou spacecraft were finally selected, with the former scoring 83.69 points and the latter 84 points.

The Shenzhou spacecraft won the election by 0.31 points because of "small investment, small risk, and big grasp", and the Great Wall No. 1 project was abandoned.

In this regard, Huaguo Aerospace missed the space shuttle for the first time, and once again paid attention to the fact that X37B was born to engage in a small unmanned space shuttle.

However, after the first flight of H1, Academician She began to collect the information of the Great Wall No. 1 that year, and slowly found the old people of the 805 and 604 institutes at that time, and reimagined the new space shuttle of China little by little.

A year has passed, but the progress of the space shuttle is still not very smooth, and it is only barely pulling up the crew.

Because the space agency has always believed that the future space plane can completely replace the space shuttle, the Tengyun project is enough, and the new generation of manned spacecraft is about to be put into use, there is really no need to study the space shuttle.

What's more, isn't the upper stage of the original Tengyun Project a small space shuttle?

Therefore, even when the size prototype of the H2 flew to Ulanha Mountain for testing, Academician She's proposal to restore the Great Wall No. 1 was still rejected by the majority.

"Academician She, in terms of military purposes, we have unmanned ones, and in terms of space purposes, the new generation of manned spacecraft is completely sufficient, and the aerospace plane is also accelerating closely, and we no longer need the space shuttle."

Academician She: "However, a large platform of more than 50 tons has an incomparable advantage over a small platform, and the role of a 100-ton space shuttle in some aspects is not comparable to that of five 20-ton small space shuttles." ”

This sentence made others think for a while, but soon someone reacted:

"If we really need it, let's buy an H2?"

As soon as the words fell, everyone suddenly woke up and hurriedly applauded.

"That's right, we can't call it independent anymore when we rebuild the space shuttle, that's a duplicate construction, now everything is under the control of the Aviation Development Commission, H2 is not unusable, and now the Tiangong space station is using H1 to pick up people."

"You don't have to buy an H2, you can rent it once when you need it, and this kind of task doesn't cost too much."

"The main purpose of the space shuttle is to grasp satellites and install trusses, so we can build a large satellite platform in low orbit, and the practice series can be expanded to more than 20 tons."

"When the atmospheric friction is degraded, let H2 go to refuel? That's really okay, H2 can supply 10 super-large satellites in one operation, right? ”

“……”

The content of the meeting began to deviate gradually, from the Great Wall 1 to how to buy the H2 space shuttle, and the more he talked, the more energetic he became.

In the end, Academician She couldn't interject, so he could only watch the meeting end in a happy atmosphere.

However, Ami doesn't think so.

……

"Gentlemen, do you know about nuclear power? That's almost endless energy, and when a nuclear-powered space shuttle floats around in space, it poses a serious threat to the entire world!

Think about it, our satellite was in orbit defenselessly, and suddenly at a distance of tens of thousands of kilometers, an evil laser hit me......"

"Wait, Carey, we've got an X37B."

"Ha, Mr. Senator, X37B can't even fit a small nuclear reactor, only large space shuttles, like Endeavour, Atlantis, and space shuttles like H2 can fit it, and it can fit three!"

When the H2 space shuttle was mentioned, the atmosphere in the entire House of Commons reached a climax, and many of the stupid sons of landlords who had inherited the position of senator from their fathers trembled, feeling that the end was imminent.

In just two days, the Aramco Air Force made a series of fantastical drawings of a nuclear-powered space shuttle with laser weapons and electromagnetic guns, and exaggerated and created panic everywhere.

In particular, they kept putting pictures of the full-size prototype of the H2 and using the example of the H1 to continue to diss the mistakes of terminating the STS program, which made the senators feel more and more reasonable.

In the end, the Senate made a compromise:

"The FATS program can be carried out, but the budget must not be as large as before, and it must be as fast as possible."

(End of chapter)