Chapter 69: Chapter 67 Launching a Car into Space_1

"He, when is the CZ-6 reusable Flight Two scheduled to launch?"

Faced with the Big Shot’s question, He Tang hemmed and hawed, unable to utter a complete sentence.

The Big Shot understood, this meant they had no confidence and dared not launch again.

Looking at the first institute, Chief Designer Li also showed a hint of embarrassment.

He was the chief designer of the CZ-5, appointed in 2009 to lead the team working on the CZ-5. Last year, they were instructed to explore the reusability of future rockets, and they are still in the demonstration phase.

Resultingly, the eighth institute’s CZ-6 exploded with a "pop," and once they thought about their own 870-ton CZ-5, they instantly didn’t dare to take that risk.

The inherent configuration of the CZ-5 was not suitable for recovery, and even if they wanted to change the engines, they needed to actually... have them.

Originally, Li Xi thought that even if they couldn’t achieve reusability, the CZ-5 would still be China’s number one rocket. That alone was a unique achievement. However, it wasn’t long before the New Yuan-2 was standing tall in Qiongzhou.

Keep in mind, launch pad number one was initially meant for the CZ-5, you leaders in Qiongzhou, have you no shame!

Full of grievances, Chief Designer Li couldn’t voice them and could only vaguely comment:

"Our plan is still under demonstration. The CZ-5 is quite heavy, its structure complicated..."

In his heart, he even wished the New Yuan-2 would fail, just so they wouldn’t have to bear so much pressure anymore.

The Big Shot’s gaze swept over the faces of the subordinates from each institute. Aside from the sixth institute and several other specialized institutes that seemed expressionless, everyone else bowed their heads.

Huh, why is someone still looking at him, eyes brimming with light?

Upon closer inspection, it was Li Wei and several members of the astronaut corps.

The Big Shot remembered that Li Wei had sent a report to the higher-ups a while ago, essentially stating that the astronauts had been idle for too long, making for an uneasy military spirit.

The higher-ups, with their keen insight, of course knew what he was implying, replying curtly with "It’s the responsibility of the Aerospace Administration to send people to space." Subsequently, Li Wei set his sights on the Big Shot.

The Big Shot rubbed his forehead and looked away, thinking that letting the Aerospace Administration entrust private spaceflight to launch astronauts was beyond even what NACA would consider.

The entertaining display in the VIP seats at the back of the control room was limited to that small area, while the front row was still harmoniously and joyously mingling.

Representatives from Southern Machinery Institute and several universities collaborating with New Yuan Aeronautics were present, with the president of Southern Machinery Institute making a personal appearance.

Many from the Sichuan Province Tourism and Culture Bureau and the Department of Industry also attended, sitting together, smiling, and chatting animatedly.

And Xin’an Automotive, as a joint venture with Southern Automotive, sending people to support the rocket launch was also quite reasonable, wasn’t it?

"Mr. Lin, this is incredible, truly incredible! Your New Yuan’s rocket was so small last time, and now it’s nearly as tall as the launch tower!"

Chen Jun incessantly praised Lin Ju, who became somewhat embarrassed and started changing the subject.

"Mr. Chen, how is the testing going for the engineering prototype car? How does our BMS compare to those on the market?"

Talking about his specialty, Chen Jun immediately became energized:

"Good, it must be good!" He gave a thumbs-up. "I never thought that a spacecraft company could be so skilled at making cars too. 7,200 small batteries and not a single issue, temperature and power control are all impeccable;

And a proper electric sedan really is fast, now the zero to hundred acceleration is just over 4 seconds, with a bit of fine-tuning, getting under 3 seconds isn’t a problem. You aiming for the sports sedan market is totally feasible, worth a try!"

Southern Automotive had a solid foundation, and they brought a lot of technology to the table for the joint venture with Xin’an. They also looked to seize this opportunity to elevate their brand status, to see if, by leveraging sports sedans, they could step up to the threshold of luxury vehicles.

Lin Ju was aware of this and suddenly had an idea:

"Mr. Chen, do you have any ready-made sports sedan designs? I’m looking for something grand, sci-fi, attractive, but also with production potential, and suitable for conversion into electric cars."

Chen Jun was unsure of what Lin Ju was getting at, but after thinking it over, he said:

"We certainly have designs, plenty of concept car designs. Xin’an’s new models were even based on our previous concept designs. Why Mr. Lin, do you want a custom-made one? I can arrange to gift it to you."

Lin Ju waved his finger mysteriously: "Mr. Chen, although domestic cars are starting to rise now, most are economy models. People have been trying to break into the high-end market since the 2000s without success. But I have an idea that might just work."

"I’m all ears."

Chen Jun was also intrigued; this was exactly where national brands felt most eager and vexed. In the past, the East Wind sports car and the Beauty Leopard were the painful lessons of domestic brands attempting to break into the high-end market, but even now, everyone was still tirelessly pursuing it without giving up.

"The New Yuan-2’s remote missions two and three will carry the Progress and the unmanned Unity spacecraft. The payload bay of Progress can hold 4.5 tons, which is more than enough to accommodate a car—if you can hurriedly produce a prototype..."

"Hiss!" Chen Jun’s eyes widened, feeling a chill rushing straight to his crown, shivering all over with goosebumps popping up.

To send a car into space?

A Southern Automobile car in outer space?

All over the world, many brands are superior to theirs, but who else can shoot a car into space for advertising?

Once the idea entered his mind, Chen Jun couldn’t stop thinking about it. He grasped Lin Ju’s hands tightly, his speech almost incoherent.

"Mr. Lin... Mr. Lin, I agree right now. I’ll immediately have someone pick out a proposal. Don’t worry, even if I have to use a hammer, I’ll make sure they hammer out a luxury car for the Chinese people!

Just wait for me; Southern Automobile agrees no matter the cost!"

Chen Jun rushed to the restroom in a flash, dialing the corporate board’s phone number...

...

May 26, 10 a.m.

CCAV13, News Channel.

In the top right corner of the screen hung the word "LIVE," and lined up from left to right behind the crescent-shaped desk were the host, a guest from the space agency, and a guest from New Yuan.

Clearly, the New Yuan-2’s launch had received the televised broadcasting treatment reserved for national-level launches.

Following the space agency’s tradition, there was an 8-hour live broadcast before the launch.

There was controversy in the station, but as New Yuan Aeronautics was the country’s first private space enterprise, and New Yuan-2 was a record-breaking heavy-lift rocket, the live broadcast was ultimately approved.

The New Yuan-2 had already been fueled up, with over a thousand tons of liquid oxygen and methane taking over four hours to fill its cryogenic tanks, depleting half the supply at the launch pad.

The scene switched to a live connection with the CCTV reporter, and behind the reporter appeared the New Yuan-2 wrapped in swirls of white smoke, the panda on its body faintly visible.

The camera zoomed out to reveal the crowd gathered behind the reporter. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"... I am currently standing on the beach facing Launch Pad 1 across the sea. We know that, beginning the night before last, tourists have been camping out to watch the rocket’s launch, and many enthusiasts have brought specialized launch equipment. Let’s interview them... Hello there!"

"Hello, hello." An old man wearing a peaked cap and glasses appeared in front of the camera.

"Sir, are you here to watch the rocket launch?"

"Yes, the New Yuan-2 rocket is our country’s biggest rocket..."

Lin Ju took a moment to glance at the live news broadcast, then pursed his lips and turned away, speaking to his laptop:

"That grandpa is so smooth in front of the camera, do you guys believe him?"

"Don’t believe him, I’m socially anxious~"

"It’s so fake it hurts, Factory Manager Lin is the real deal."

"Is the person with social anxiety a social terrorist?"

"..."

Lin Ju had only read a few comments when suddenly the feed froze, leaving him in frustration. After half an hour of fiddling, he switched off the comment and barrage feature.

The live streaming platform’s staff informed him that the servers couldn’t handle the massive traffic, and without disabling the interactive features, the stream could very likely go offline...

Lin Ju sighed. New Yuan’s fame was too great, having surpassed the server’s capacity. In the current internet era, limited by hardware foundations, the large capacity servers of the future hadn’t been developed yet. It was exhausting.

Across the ocean, Ma Yilong, who stayed up late to watch the live stream, expressionlessly turned off the alerts on Little Blue Bird.

So what if a few Falcon 9’s blew up? Why keep tagging me?