The vast grasslands near Ulanha Mountain Airport were scattered with vehicles, while a group of well-equipped people used "cannons"—their cameras to capture images of the H1 separation test.

A military vehicle was parked not too far away, silently watching the scene.

These individuals were not spies but aerospace enthusiasts who had rushed over upon hearing the news.

Ever since the H1 was first brought to this location for testing on the back of Drawing 154, enthusiasts had gathered to take photos.

Of course, the information they could capture was limited; the shape and aerodynamics of NACA could be analyzed just from the official website photos, and if you wanted detailed content, you had to enter the airport.

But let’s not forget, the inside code for Ulanha Mountain repair shop (airport) is 96533—a full-fledged military base, so security is naturally extremely strict.

New Yuan Aerospace was quite happy to leak some insignificant photos and didn’t send anyone away—if they wanted to shoot, then shoot.

In the sky, Deng Lei and Captain Li were piloting the H1, smoothly entering the landing flight path.

Due to the blended wing body and central lift body design, the H1 had no obvious wing delineation, any part of the aircraft was capable of generating lift, appearing like a flying vessel from an animation with a chubby body and tiny wingtips making up its whole.

The aviation community once jokingly called the central lift body a "flying board brick," which was accurate both visually and practically.

Although this greatly saved space and weight, the downside was poor controllability, with a high risk of loss of control during large maneuvers, and operational standards only allowed conservative piloting.

Of course, as a space shuttle, the H1 had a fail-safe for stalling; as long as the tail’s liquid oxygen-hydrogen engine started, its powerful thrust would directly make the thrust-to-weight ratio exceed 1.2. Although there was limited fuel resulting in a short engine runtime, it was enough to change the situation.

Deng Lei began to lower the altitude and with the help of the intelligent piloting system corrected for the yaw induced by the wind direction; Li Wei opened the switch from outside, lowering the quaint tricycle landing gear.

The H1 touched the ground at a certain angle, the rear landing gear’s tires produced white smoke upon contact with the runway, then the nose dipped, and the wheel hydraulics brake pump increased pressure, rolling to the end of the runway before slowly stopping.

Not far away, in the temporary building serving as the command center, Academician She saw the engineers from New Yuan Aerospace stand up one by one, silently giving each other high-fives.

The atmospheric flight test designated "H1 Remote One" was successfully completed; the space shuttle performed normally throughout and experienced no issues.

On the runway, the members of the astronaut team ran towards the spacecraft along with the ground crew, unlocking the side - cabin door from the outside, and with the sound produced by the pressure differential, they saw the scene inside clearly.

The always-serious Deng Lei lifted his visor and turned his head, giving them a "yeah" gesture; Li Wei’s visor was also halfway open, lying back in his seat with his eyes closed, his hands gently resting on the armrests set next to the rudder pedals.

He was savoring the sensation of the space shuttle landing.

After a good while, Li Wei exhaled, opened his eyes, and seeing several pairs of bright eyes, sighed and unbuckled his X-type safety belt:

"I’ll ask the engineers at New Yuan if they can include the whole team in training during future flights," he said. Seeing no response from his teammates, he continued, "Opportunities to go to space are rare. I’ll report this to the higher-ups... if feasible, New Yuan could also participate in our manned spaceflight projects."

"Wow!"

The team finally erupted in cheers, lifting Li Wei, still in his spacesuit, out of the spacecraft and carrying him on their shoulders toward the hangar, while the rest continued to gather around the H1, gently caressing its black heat-resistant coating on the bottom.

Although it was only atmospheric flight, they could still feel the residual warmth of the aircraft’s surface, which to the astronauts felt as warm as a young girl’s skin.

Academician She, witnessing the scene on the runway, also let out a sigh.

It’s been 23 years since manned spaceflight began, and only 10 astronauts have gone up—is that really a bit too few?

But without the matching space station facilities, sending people up would be pointless. We had to wait for the Long March 5 to build a large space station... No, the prototype of New Yuan-2 is already in Qiongzhou.

On May 11, Ma’s first Falcon 9 launch of May took place, and it proceeded directly to sea recovery.

Of course... it failed yet again. The Falcon 9 ended up in the sea, 20 meters away from the tugboat, but at least they retrieved the complete wreckage.

On the same day, New Yuan officially announced the launch date for New Yuan-2’s first mission: May 26th.

The rocket arrived in Qiongzhou on May 17th, launched from Launch Pad 1 on May 26th, with the first stage being recovered at the New Yuan Aerospace Launch Site at Recovery Pad 1.

The method of recovery was no longer using landing legs. New Yuan-2 was too tall and heavy for the legs to withstand, and its center of gravity was too high.

The method used this time was: the first stage rocket controlled its hover about 10 to 20 meters above the recovery platform’s tower. It then flattened the grid fins, and the tower extended two long steel structures, closing like chopsticks, which suspended the first stage rocket by its extended grid fins, hanging about 15 meters above the ground.

Compared to leg recovery, this method represented an increase in difficulty by an order of magnitude, but clearly, the System Research Institute came prepared, applying it only after the task status was confirmed as "completed."

The beauty of having an edge lies exactly here.

Everyone thought that such a method of recovery was fantastically improbable, yet Ma, on the other hand, stroked his chin: Good idea, it’s high-tech and worth copying.

Meanwhile, Lin Ju confirmed the name for the company’s first H1 space shuttle.

Unlike rockets, space shuttles have their own unique significance, and choosing an appropriate name is very important.

First, they collected suggestions from all the factory employees. Everyone could think of a name and send it to the factory office email, and the naming activity lasted three days.

Lin Ju sifted through the emails every day, but even by the end of the third day, he hadn’t found the answer he was looking for.

"Boss, why don’t we draw 20 names and vote on them?"

Lin Ju nodded absentmindedly, but the deep furrow in his brow suggested he wasn’t really satisfied.

Suddenly, a name emerged from the depths of his heart:

"Progress, let’s call it ’Progress’."

Guo Shen was taken aback; the name was already taken, but so be it...

Although this risked wasting the efforts of the entire factory staff, who could argue when Lin Ju, the sole dictator, had spoken? If he said Progress, then Progress it was. We go further.

Therefore, the H1 at the Ulanha Mountain base was officially renamed "Progress" and was set to have its livery changed during maintenance before the manned launch.

Meanwhile, at the New Distant Factory, the fuselage for the second H1 was completed; she was preemptively named "Unity."

In fact, to ensure absolute safety, during the launch of Progress, Unity and a New Yuan-2 rocket would be on standby at the Qiongzhou Launch Site. If Progress were unable to return due to an emergency, Unity would launch a rescue mission within 12 hours.

As always, even though the system engineers and the technology are very reliable, when it comes to human life, necessary procedures must still be followed.