"After half a century, mankind will set foot on the moon again."

"NACA: Return to the Moon is followed by a trip to Mars."

"Old man Florida stormed Cape Calavral Air Force Launch Base with four crocodiles."

"Jeff Bezos on how Blue Origin built the safest and most powerful lander"

"It has been confirmed that the first person to set foot on the moon will be a woman, and the second will be a black astronaut."

"'Birdie' has 30 minutes to land."

"Flat-level theorists claim that the moon landing livestream deceived all mankind."

"The live broadcast screen switched, and NACA did not take a stand."

"The mission to the moon has been aborted, and we will land again at an opportune time."

"Artemis II mission suspended for unknown reasons". ‘

"Claire refutes rumors that the lander is malfunctioning, saying that it is a planned arrangement."

"Lucia and Abel said that they would carry out free rescue for any country, and Borisov proposed that the United Nations provide assistance to countries with underdeveloped space technology."

"Passers-by secretly photographed the astronauts' families entering the presidential palace to be summoned."

"Why is the flag planted by Dawning 3 taller than the Star-Spangled Banner?"

These are the headlines of various popular news published by various media throughout the morning at Aramco.

The news of the disappearance of the lander is still being hidden, but the outside world is already suspicious and dissatisfied.

It's not hard to get angry that Aurora 3 planted flags, spoke to the world, and even interacted with robots, but Artemis 2 was nowhere to be found.

"The four astronauts are very good, and it is a normal procedure to receive family members."

John tweeted a photo of himself hugging a black aunt to strongly refute the rumors, and then connected to the Houston line.

As soon as the phone was connected, Claire heard John's voice suppressing her anger:

"Where's the 'little bird'? Why haven't you found them yet, you have to give the result today, otherwise I will have to mourn to the whole people tomorrow, and I will be the most shameful boss!

If they live, they must be thrown safely in the Pacific Ocean; If they die, at least find their bodies and let us give the people an account! ”

Claire wanted to say something, but the phone had already hung up.

A succession of accidents and stress had left the forty-something elite already emaciated, and Deputy Commissioner Jim was very worried about his physical condition.

"Director, you go and rest, there is nothing Houston can do now, we can only trust them or ...... By tomorrow at the latest, only an obituary will be issued. ”

"No, no, I believe in them alive, I believe in our astronauts."

Claire spoke in a hoarse voice with red and swollen eyes, all supported by her will.

"It's useless to ask the Chinese for help, there is no way without communication, unless you find them...... Let's carry out the emergency plan.

Have Reid and Jeremy drive Orion down to an altitude and make optical observations other than radio, locking the target on a possible landing area. ”

"Hmm...... That's all there is to it. ”

Relying on optical search is already the most helpless way, but now it can only be so, there is no second lander to use.

……

B04 Highlands.

14 climbed to the highest point near the landing site, pulled out the extended antenna on his back, and constantly listened for radio signals in an unfamiliar band.

The signal was interrupted twice over a 10-minute period, two or three minutes apart, and then the distress signal began again.

This time, 14 almost confirmed the direction of the radio.

In the ground command center, the staff basically confirmed the area where the signal was sent according to the change in signal strength and the way 14 walks were measured:

It was a lowland hill to the southwest of the Qom crater, covering an area of about 150 square kilometers, in the robot's previous exploration, it was a very fragmented place, there had been volcanic activity before, many of the surfaces were hollow underneath, and some weak areas were easy to collapse, Xinyuan almost lost an explorer there, and then he didn't go.

It makes sense if the signal was transmitted there, the hills that go one after another will seriously interfere with the radio transmission distance, and the outcome of the forced landing there may not be very good.

In order to save time, Academician She and Lin Ju made the first decision after discussion:

"Dawn, this is the ground.

Hole three, you are immediately preparing to conduct concentrated reconnaissance of the suspected area in space, and the command module has a high-magnification optical telescope.

There is a spare gain antenna on the outside of the lander, which is easy to remove, and according to the existing device, a strong radio rangefinder can be made, allowing 14 to drive to explore.

It's very dangerous, and when you find the exact location and safe route at 14, you'll follow it, understand? ”

"Dawn understands! *3”

……

“warning，warning，the System offline; warning，warning，the System offline……”

"Koch, this warning is so annoying, I'm going to be killed by it."

Victor Glover was in front of him, with only a faint glimmer of light from the faint cold light inside the mask, blurring his face on the mask.

The gentle female warning in the headset had been circulating for more than an hour, and it had already made his ears ache a little.

He was tempted to turn off the warning with the switch on his wrist, but now it was an act that required his life to be done.

"Don't mess with Victor, it's over if the spacesuit breaks."

Christina Koch's voice made him feel better, and he gasped heavily.

Now they are in a cavern, he is crushed by rubble underneath the lander, and Koch sits on the very top of the inclined lander, holding aloft a makeshift antenna, sent with a radio transmitter made of batteries and mechanical debris. S signal, expecting someone to hear it.

Koch had been flipping the switch for more than ten minutes, but reason told her that she couldn't stop, couldn't sleep, and only had 10 hours at most.

They are now wearing hard-shell extravehicular spacesuits, a new generation of spacesuits designed specifically for Artemis missions, with improved protection and flexibility, as well as a life-support backpack on their backs that can be quickly changed.

There are also two spare backpacks inside the lander that can be replaced, each of which can support normal activity for 12 hours.

Koch was able to change his backpack, but Victor was crushed by a huge rock and couldn't break free, even under one-sixth of the moon's gravity, and the space was small, which could easily cause secondary damage.

Victor couldn't move now and was tormented by the noise, and his mood was terrible.

During the forced landing, he tried his best to get closer to the position of Dawning 3, and although he succeeded, he failed to control the attitude of the lander:

Only those who have experienced it can understand how difficult it is to mechanically operate a monster of more than 30 tons, especially since this monster is not very obedient and has mutilated limbs, and its center of gravity is still flailing.

It took Victor a lifetime of luck and control to keep the descent rate at the lander's upper limit, but the devil knows that beneath the ground is actually a cavern where magma flowed during ancient volcanic activity.

The lander smashed directly through the top and glided along the cave, the entire exterior was severely damaged, and almost all the automation equipment was damaged and unusable.

Victor was the first to crawl out of the hatch and try to walk to Aurora 3 for help, but a large piece of crushed surface rock immediately smashed him to the ground, thanks to the excellent protection of the monocoque spacesuit, which was not broken, otherwise he would have died on the spot.

Victor had always ridiculed the monocoque spacesuit as an "Iron King Eight" before, but now he thinks that the King Eight Shell is also quite good.

Koch, who came out later, found that the lander's communication antenna was completely unusable, and the communication device on the spacesuit could not detect the signal at all.

She had tried to use a makeshift patchwork of extended antennas, but she was now sitting at the very top of the lander at least seven or eight meters away from the surface of the moon, with only a hole three or four meters in diameter, and it was the falling rocks there that crushed Victor.

In the end, she came up with an idea of making an antenna out of the material she could find, and then using a high-power battery to send a simple distress signal.

The communication device on the spacesuit cannot remove the external antenna, and it is extremely dangerous to do so, which is likely to cause damage to the spacesuit, so for the time being, it can only send a distress signal in one direction.

While mechanically pressing the transmitter, Koch also chatted with Victor over the radio, cheering each other on.

"I think the next time I have to bring one of their flags with me in my personal belongings, so that I can wear it on my arm and wave it, and the aliens will see it and send us to the Chinese embassy."

"Christina, you've seen Wolf Warrior too?"

"I've seen every movie of JingWu, and he's a real man."

"Shit, as much as I like him too, I bet he can't beat me, my forearms are as strong as his thighs."

"But they all know kung fu, and the thinner the person, the more powerful they are."

"But I'm a master of black satin, a master of Shaolin kung fu!"

"Victor, in fact, I have always wanted to tell you that as far as I know, there is no black satin in Shaolin kung fu, it is karate in Goryeo, and the kung fu practiced by samurai in the past."

“whaaat？ If it's true, I'll kick that Korean marmot in the ass! ”

(End of chapter)