"Slow, slow! Tang Hubing, pay attention to a little laser calibration! “

"Accurate, it's just three points, and you can go straight to it."

"This is a 90-ton module, and it will break if you hit it lightly, and I look like I have a 0.5 declination angle in the axial direction here, and then use RCS to adjust it."

“……”

In a 500-kilometer orbit, the first step in the second phase of the Endeavour space station was completed as the Glory used its robotic arm to carefully dock the living module to the connecting channel.

Now, the weight of the Endeavor space station has exceeded 560 tons, plus Glorious, that is more than 600 tons.

The reputation of the largest and heaviest spacecraft in orbit has been transferred to Advance.

Tang Hubing floated above the open cargo hold of the Glory, and the angle of the sun at this time forced him to pull down the sunshade.

Looking up from his point of view, the distance from the No. 1 living module to the central node cabin is more than 60 meters, and the length alone may not be too much to watch, but Tang Hubing is next to the No. 1 living module, and he only feels a kind of shock that spans the world.

The 43-meter-long spoked cabin is surrounded by layered trusses, giving it a unique mechanical aesthetic, and the milky white surface of the cabin glistens in the sunlight, making it possible to feel a hint of warmth in the dark of space.

All five astronauts quietly admired the largest spacecraft ever built for a moment before continuing to fix the trusses and check the connections to some of the newly added circuits.

After confirming that it had been fully installed, the Glory repositioned and docked to the axial function module.

Here they will do their last special activity before returning to the surface: a "trial stay" in the living module.

The interior of the Endeavor was so spacious that the astronauts on all three H2M missions did the same thing: gently apply a finely tuned thrust counterforce from the node module, then narrow their bodies to fly as far as possible over the entire 43-meter radius of the spoke module as collision-free as possible.

In such a "flight" in a five-meter-diameter cabin, the body rotates slowly during flight due to the unbalanced thrust, and the soft white light at the end is like a hazy light from the exit of the uterus when a baby is born, which is a wonderful feeling.

It's as if a baby knows that she is about to be born, and swims in the warm mother's body for the last time, giving goosebumps from fear but also can't help but be excited.

If I had to define that feeling, it would be the feeling of being close to space.

Unlike any previous spacecraft, Forward gave astronauts a sense of belonging for the first time by relying on its unimaginable space and centrifugal approach for the first time.

In the past and even in the current orbital spacecraft, it is common to hear that astronauts have heard inexplicable noises, some of which are large and some are small, and the frequency is generally not low, and it is in the range that humans can tolerate but still feel a little uncomfortable.

In fact, this is because in the vacuum, due to the huge difference between the internal and external air pressure and temperature, the structure and shell of each part of the spacecraft are slightly deformed, so noise is generated, and because the vacuum cannot conduct sound, all of it is fed back into the cabin.

In addition, the various equipment that would have been carried on the original spacecraft will also conduct noise to the capsule, and the astronauts will naturally be surrounded by all kinds of noise.

The causes of these noises vary in complexity, so the living compartments have been specifically designed to optimize the sound insulation, but in order to save valuable mass and space, they are only reduced to a barely acceptable level.

This is true of Tiangong, ISS and Sheila.

However, for a space station and spacecraft like Advance, which can reach an unprecedented maximum of 2,000 tons and could theoretically support people for several years, the long-term effects of noise must be taken into account.

Astronauts on the space station in Earth orbit can take a spacecraft back if they can't stay any longer, but if they are on the way to deep space, there is no way, and there is no hibernation module for them to sleep in.

There is also the noise that is generated when spinning, etc., and it is easy to cause problems in the psychology of astronauts in the long-term loneliness.

To this end, all sections of the Enforward are designed with dense sound insulation, and the headache of volume and weight trade-offs in the past has disappeared in the face of the abundant space in each module, and the Endeavor is definitely the quietest spacecraft.

Quiet, massive, and gravitational enough for the astronauts to identify with Advance.

In fact, it is true that one of the crew members of the first Pioneer mission served as the pilot of the Unity space station last month to travel to the Tiangong space station, and after entering the Tiangong space station, he complained more than once about the revolutionary changes of the Advance compared with the "Tiangong", which made the astronauts of the latter itch.

It is precisely because of such wonderful experiences in the mouths of the first two crews that the Glory crew this time cherishes the remaining three days.

Living Pod One welcomed its first five guests, and while it doesn't yet offer the gravity it is proud of, it's a novelty like no other.

……

The Advance snatched the title of the first largest man-made spacecraft in orbit, in fact, people on the earth basically expected it, after all, the more than 200-ton module was launched soon after Lin Ju announced the plan, which was enough to see the courage of Xinyuan.

But the frantic pace of the Advance's construction was still unexpected, especially for the ISS.

Why was the International Space Station built? The Space Shuttle is going to take 80% of the honor.

Without the Space Shuttle, it would be difficult to install the truss structure, and there would be no fourth-generation space station, but everyone knows how long it will take to prepare for a space shuttle launch and how much it will cost, and it is unacceptable to any country except Aramco.

But H2M is too buggy, its launch vehicle is a reusable liquid rocket, the cost is at least 90% lower than the old space shuttle, and it can also support high-intensity frequency transmission, which is really funny.

The Abor Space Agency was the first to congratulate the advance on becoming the first, and at the same time sent the "From Mecca", which has flown 9 times, to China for regular maintenance, and purchased two Sila space station cargo spacecraft replenishment missions from Blue Sword Space, with a total order value of 800 million yuan.

The current head of the ISS, Montal, also reacted quickly and immediately began to discuss with the ISS member states the life extension and refurbishment plans of the ISS, as well as whether to expand it again.

Life extension and renovation are old topics, but expansion is a new proposition.

After 2011, with the retirement of the Space Shuttle, even if the International Space Station wanted to expand, it would not be able to continue the truss extension mission, so the potential was basically set.

However, Boeing, which is preparing to replace its nuclear-powered engines, has revealed that it will resume flying in July, and that the fuel tanks for Endeavour have been built...... In addition to the fixed push SRB, because the booster of the SLS rocket is homologous, the production capacity is squeezed, but I heard that efforts are being made to solve it.

So Montal's attitude was: "Endeavour will return to flight soon, everyone invest a little more money, and we can expand the ISS a little more, okay?" ”

There is only one shift at night, take a rest tonight, and get up again tomorrow to code words......

(End of chapter)