"Houston, we're having problems with the inclination of our flight."

Floating in a mess of astronauts, somewhat anxiously calling the ground command center.

"There seems to be a problem with the auto-adjustment system!"

"We're on the verge of a roll!"

Anxious voices kept ringing in the Houston ground command center.

It's still early in the morning in Houston.

Most of the staff are still resting.

There are only a handful of officers on duty, facing such an emergency.

Mess up!

"Vess!"

"Let's find a way to restart the auto-adjustment system as soon as possible!"

The officer on duty at the command center reacted quickly.

The first order was given to the astronauts in space.

The automatic attitude adjustment system is extremely important for the space station.

The control of flight attitude all depends on this system.

This time, the attitude deviation of the space station was caused by the imbalance of the propulsion engines in all directions.

This results in forces in all directions, of varying magnitude.

In just a few minutes, the inclination of the ISS has increased to 6 degrees!

That's a huge tilt for a space station!

They currently fly at an altitude of 380 km.

At this speed, it will fall below 200 kilometers in less than half an hour.

There is a high chance of a crash!

The two Eagle Sauce astronauts on the space station began to do everything they could to restart the automatic attitude adjustment system.

This seems to be their only hope now.

Only the automatic attitude adjustment system was restarted.

After thrust balancing.

The ISS will not be in a state of constant decreasing orbital altitude.

"Automatic attitude adjustment system, the first reboot failed!"

Vess's face was very ugly and he reported to the ground command center.

Problems with the attitude adjustment system.

It's bigger than he thought!

There seems to be a wiring, which was problematic in the previous experiments.

Prior to the accident, the Maozi Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, docked to the International Space Station, was undergoing a thruster ignition test.

Weiss speculated that it was this thruster ignition test.

This led to problems with the ISS automatic attitude adjustment system.

Now the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft is still on the docking module of the ISS.

The key is that there are also three Maozi astronauts on board the spacecraft.

They had planned to return to Earth with the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft after the thruster ignition test was over.

Their lives are now tied to the International Space Station.

"Is the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft now ready to disconnect and return to Earth?"

Compared with NASA personnel who care about the International Space Station, Maozi is more concerned about their own lives.

"The space station is currently operating in an unstable manner, and it is dangerous to forcibly disconnect!"

Maozi's technicians told their leaders very seriously.

Minutes and seconds passed.

The situation on the International Space Station is also getting worse.

The inclination has now expanded to nine degrees.

"Now, there's no other way."

The NASA administrator said with an ugly face after consulting with the experts for several minutes.

"Right now, we're only able to get the astronauts to do one emergency spacewalk and go out of the capsule to repair the damaged thruster line."

Normally, a spacewalk takes a long time to prepare.

For more skilled astronauts, it usually takes almost an hour.

to do all sorts of different preparations.

But they're not going to be an hour now.

Not even half an hour.

According to experts' estimates, they will only have 18 minutes.

"I'm on this spacewalk!"

After hearing from Houston, Weiss, the most experienced of the astronauts, said.

He has flown two space missions, spent more than 200 days in orbit, and conducted eight spacewalks.

He is the most experienced astronaut in orbit.

"Ves, you must ensure your speed and your own safety."

The NASA administrator in the ground command center glanced at his watch:

"You have to complete the mission in 15 minutes!"

Vess didn't say anything, but immediately began to put on his spacewalk spacesuit.

The outfit was bulky.

In general, with the assistance of someone.

It also takes twenty minutes.

But this time, Vis burst out with unprecedented speed!

It took less than ten minutes to put it on.

Forcefully open the sealed hatch and prepare to enter the vast sea of stars.

Through the communication system in the spacesuit.

The astronauts who stay in the space station will self-check the fault points obtained by the system.

Tell Vess, who has already walked out of the cabin.

"It's right under the thruster, and you need to open the whole lid."

The companion in the cabin calmly told Vis how to troubleshoot it.

Still, everyone in the ground command center could hear the panic in his voice.

And that trembling, which he probably didn't even notice himself.

"Vess, you have five minutes left."

Vess floated slowly beyond the space station.

There was boundless darkness all around.

Only the bulkhead of the space station around him can give him a sense of security.

Beneath their feet is the Earth which is getting closer and closer, and they seem to be on their way to the Earth.

It's just that if they do fall to Earth, they may be ablated as they pass through the atmosphere.

Only a little bit of ash will remain.

Weiss's psychological quality is not unstrong.

He is a professional astronaut, not an expert on scientific missions on the space station.

Even in this case, it was able to keep its attention focused on the thruster system.

After walking on the bulkhead for a while, he finally came to the point of failure.

With a hand-held screwdriver, easily open the cover.

Vesss finally figured out what the problem was.

It's not that the line is broken.

In fact, the connection joint was shaken open.

With just a push, the automatic attitude adjustment system is put into operation.

Get them back to their old working condition!

Weiss was relieved after carefully pushing the loose street on.

"Preparing for a new round of restart work on the automatic attitude adjustment system."

Vess, with beads of sweat on his forehead, said to his companion.

"Roger, restart in progress!"

The other party said crisply.

Vis gasped for two breaths and prepared to return to the cabin the way he came.

Walking in space is not an easy task.

Vis could only carefully tug at the station's bulkhead and move forward little by little.

I finally walked to the airtight door.

The hatch opened with the assistance of the inside.

Vis hurried into the space station.

After firmly closing the airtight door.

"Is the posture normal now?"

After opening the spacesuit helmet, Weiss said with some urgency.

The astronaut on the opposite side was not as happy as Weiss expected, but extremely gloomy.

"The automatic attitude adjustment system has been restored."

"But our crisis has not been resolved."

Vis was a little surprised: "How can this be! ”

"What the hell is going on!"

"Our height is too low."

The other side pointed out the window and told Ves.

Originally, the flight altitude of the International Space Station was 380 kilometers.

This is also the flight altitude of most space stations.

But experienced the posture problem just now.

They are now falling to the earth in an oblique spiral!

Even the attitude adjustment system of the space station has returned to normal.

But only to alleviate the current speed of the fall to Earth.

Once descended to a certain height.

The angle of the crash will be a straight drop!

"How long do we have now?"

After understanding, Weiss said calmly.

"According to the calculations of experts on the ground, we still have six hours left."

Before that, they all knew about it, and quickly calculated the countdown to death on the space station.

Ground command center, more people are being called.

to find out how to solve the current problems encountered by the space station.

The International Space Station has just entered the stage of full-scale construction.

There are also several node modules, experimental modules, and cargo compartments that have not been launched.

If today, the ISS really crashed.

Then the investment of more than ten years will be ruined.

This is the struggle of thousands of people, who have been working uninterrupted for more than ten years.

In addition to these manpower, there are billions of dollars in investment!

In any case, they will not allow such a space station to crash to the ground before it has even entered the stage of practical use!

"Ladies and gentlemen, we must do everything we can to save our astronauts from far away in space!"

NASA Administrator said excitedly.

It's as if the person who is now in space is his own son.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with that.

These guys in space right now.

For him, there is no difference between him and his own son.

If they die in the process of crashing the space station, then his life is probably over.

The rest of my life is not spent in prison.

That is, there is no second half of life at all.

"I'm more concerned that the attitude of the space station has stabilized, can the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft be able to disengage from the space station?"

The person in charge of Maozi, even if he used remote video to attend the meeting, was full of momentum.

"The first issue now is the orbital altitude of the space station, and the issue of the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft will be discussed later."

NASA Administrator can naturally see what kind of thoughts Maozi has.

They don't care about the lives of the astronauts inside the space station.

What they are most concerned about now is the three Maozi pilots in the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft.

"According to the predetermined mission flow, they should now be on a return mission to Earth.

I don't think this should be canceled for any other reason. ”

The person in charge of Maozi has a very tough attitude.

NASA has no ability to raise the orbit before the space station crashes.

No one knows this.

Therefore, the most important thing is to try to keep your own people.

The International Space Station, although nominally known as a multinational alliance.

But in fact, everyone knows that it is Eagle Sauce who really controls it.

When the International Space Station project began, Mao Zi really believed that they could integrate into the world through such behavior.

Moreover, they have advantages in space station technology and rocket technology that others do not have.

But after more than ten years.

Most of the people in the hair have already bloomed.

They are just treating them as cheap skilled labor.

There is no corresponding respect at all.

That's why, after the accident, they are now insisting on a return to Earth mission first.

"The current situation is not suitable for a spacecraft return mission."

After thinking for a while, the NASA administrator relented.

"As soon as the space station is stabilized again, we will carry out the return mission of the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft as soon as possible."

In addition, the NASA administrator also put forward some conditions in favor of Maozi.

For example, increasing the proportion of astronauts in orbit in the future.

More cargo ships, more cabins, all for them to build and use.

"Well, since the situation on the space station is not very clear now."

"We can accept a delay in the mission."

The person in charge of Maozi shrugged his shoulders a little indifferently and said:

"But if anything unexpected happens, we'll have the ship return to the mission immediately."

NASA Administrator nodded and agreed to his request.

"Okay, let's talk about how to raise the orbital altitude of the space station."

The current orbital altitude of the space station is 185 km.

This is already an extremely dangerous height.

"The space station consumed too much fuel during the previous attitude adjustment process.

At present, the fuel for the space station is in a state of insufficiency.

In particular, the longitudinal engines capable of raising the space station are not just fuel-insufficient.

There is also the problem of fuel shortages. ”

When the NASA administrator said this, he looked up at the person in charge of Mao Zi opposite and said:

"I think there's only one way to raise the altitude of the space station as quickly as possible."

"Add another cabin dedicated to elevation."

This one is not difficult to understand.

On the side of the space station close to Earth, dock another propulsion module.

Through its thrust, the altitude of the space station is raised.

The solution is simple.

However, it is quite difficult to operate in practice.

The first question is, where does the propulsion module come from?

"You want our spaceship to be this propulsion module?"

After listening to this, the person in charge of Maozi said after a few seconds.

Nowadays, it can play a role in space for the first time.

Except for their Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, there is nothing else.

But it's too risky for them!

It is impossible for Maozi to agree.

"If so, then after unconnecting, I will directly ask them to return to Earth!"

"Not really."

The NASA administrator's answer was beyond the expectations of most of the people present.

"Don't forget, we're not the only station in space right now."

"Yesterday, the people of Longguo just completed a manned space mission."

"Their astronauts are currently on their space station!"

"Their manned spacecraft is still vacant!"

It turned out to be a spaceship from the Dragon Kingdom! (End of chapter)