Chapter 802 Welcome Home!

Just when the Lunar Orbit Construction Committee was in full swing preparing to push the construction site from the lunar orbit to the lunar surface, it has been a month since the Xiaguang rover left the orbit around Mars and embarked on the return journey.

With the completion of the last stage of orbit change, Xiaguang, which has a small amount of working mass, has turned off the electric propulsion system, and continues to move towards the Earth-Moon system according to inertia.

For Taiwei, after a month of getting along, he has basically adapted to life here.

There are clean bedding, sufficient oxygen, and warm and delicious food here.

For him, who had spent more than a month in the closed and cramped experimental area of ​​the New Virginia colony, everything here was simply paradise.

Especially the Hua people are more playful than NASA in bathing. The entire bathroom is a cylinder about one person high and two steps wide. The centrifugal acceleration provided by high-speed rotation around a fixed axis simulates the gravity environment on the earth.

If you do not combine the drawings, it may be difficult to describe the entire structure and its principles in detail. But to briefly talk about the experience, after starting the device, lying in it is like lying in the bathtub of your own bathroom, and the water droplets that should be floating around are also "sticking" to the bulkhead safely. On, the flightless ones are everywhere.

Since there is no reference from the outside world, staying in this completely enclosed bathroom, after scrubbing the body, the air outlet on the outside of the bulkhead will use strong wind to pump out every drop of water in the cylinder, and wait until the humidity in the device drops to a normal value Then the cylinder will slow down and come to a stop.

Looking at it this way, this thing looks like a large centrifuge.

Such a luxurious bathing method is unimaginable for the BFS spacecraft.

Of course, this may have something to do with the fact that electricity is a free item for Chinese people. From the moment they set off until they are finally rescued, energy is something that must be used carefully...

If there is only one thing on the entire spaceship that makes Taiwei a little dissatisfied, it is probably that there is no freedom.

In the small room, there is only a bed plank that is two shoulders wide, and there is no other furniture except a table under the bed. He can't even leave his room except for bath time and meal time, and most of the time he can only pass the time by sleeping.

The slightly depressing atmosphere makes people unable to feel a little bit of comfort. The round porthole above the bed is completely dark. After looking at it for a long time, it is easy to cause a symptom similar to deep-sea phobia, so that the porthole He never opened it.

Compared with the luxurious hardware facilities and complete entertainment equipment on the Golden Heart spacecraft, the cabin of Xiaguang is like a modified cargo cabin.

What do you say?

The experience is like being in jail.

Standing behind the isolation door, Taiwei put his hands on the edge of the door, looked at Johnson in the opposite room and asked, "How long will it take us to reach the earth?"

Johnson, who was sitting on the bed and flipping through a book, didn't look up, and replied casually.

"Maybe a month and a half, maybe two months...or longer."

Seeing that the captain didn't seem to be very interested in talking to him, Taiwei shrugged, and originally wanted to shut his mouth and lie back, but he couldn't help but asked, "Why don't those Chinese people let us go out? Are they still afraid of us—”

"Because we are not sure whether you are carrying bacteria or viruses on Mars, we can't do a comprehensive inspection for you here."

Interrupting him from the side, Liu Biao, who was wearing a space suit in the cabin, came over with a lunch box.

Putting the lunch box on the dining table next to the door, he said with a smile, "The conditions are relatively difficult, please be patient. After all, this cabin was originally modified from a cargo cabin, and it was only sailing within the Earth-Moon system. We originally I never thought about flying this far."

Looking at the Huaguo astronaut who was about to leave after delivering the meal, Taiwei stretched his neck and shouted behind him, "Hey, buddy, can you consider putting a game console in the cabin? Not everyone likes it Pass the time by reading!"

Liu Biao smiled and said, "I will report your opinion to the ground crew. If there is a chance, you should be able to see a game console next time."

"Next time? I don't want to sit a second time!"

Ignoring the yelling behind him, Liu Biao disappeared at the door of the cabin.

Looking at the locked cabin door and the countdown to unlocking the cabin door, Taiwei murmured in a voice that everyone could hear: "This feels like being in prison."

Johnson said with a blank face: "It's like living under the fence... Anyway, they took us back, so let's bear it honestly."

Thinking about it carefully, it seems that this is indeed the case.

At this moment, Taiwei suddenly recalled the words that the Huaguo astronaut said earlier, and realized a terrible detail.

Swallowing, he spoke in a trembling tone.

"Boss..."

Johnson: "What's the matter..."

Tai Wei: "If there are microorganisms or bacteria on Mars that are not found on the earth, doesn't it mean that we..."

"Don't think too much," turned the page in the book in his hand, Johnson curled his lips as if he had heard a not-so-funny joke, and said casually, "Think too much You're just asking for trouble. Not to mention it's a possibility, not a certainty."

Taiwei hammered his fists on the thick door angrily

"Shet! Those bastards in the White House, what do they think of us? Lab mice?"

In the room on the other side, Jones, who was listening to the conversation between the two, sat on the bed with his knees folded, staring out the porthole in a daze.

During this period of time, she has been reflecting on her life, her choices, and the Ares project itself.

At the beginning, she still couldn't figure out why the final result was the same even though everyone had done their best.

But now she finally understands that the final outcome of the Ares plan may not be a coincidence.

From the very beginning, this hasty trip to Mars was an unwise decision...

...

The day when I fell into the embrace of the earth came earlier than expected.

Probably on the 50th day after the Xiaguang rover began its return journey from the orbit of Mars, a gray planet and the blue piece behind it gradually appeared outside the porthole of the Xiaguang rover.

"...This is Xiaguang, entering the orbit of the space station, requesting navigation support."

"...This is the Moon Palace, navigating for you."

"Received, thank you."

After a brief communication response, the Xiaguang, which had completed active deceleration through the reverse injection of the wing engine, slowly merged into the upper orbit of the Moon Palace.

As time went by, in the deep and dark sky, a silver-white bright light gradually rose, and together with the morning glow from the skyline, it was reflected on the cold porthole.

Looking at the approaching Moon Palace, Johnson, who was sitting on the bed, closed the book in his hand, his blue pupils gradually dilated.

"God... this, is this the space station of the Chinese people?"

The moment he actually saw it, he couldn't even believe it.

Because everything in front of him was far more shocking than the one he had seen in the concept map.

The spaceship gradually approached.

The space station in the distance is also gradually approaching.

The original silvery white that was the size of a grain of rice finally turned into a soaring dragon.

Thousands of square meters of solar panels are like open dragon wings, and the rows of heat sinks are like upside-down dragon scales. The cylindrical space capsules extending outward from the center line constitute its strong bones and unbreakable steel body.

It's like a fortress.

And, a work of art...

At the same time, the captain Xu Zhenghong, who was sitting in the cockpit of the Xiaguang, with a somewhat tired face, finally raised a smile, stretched out his right fist and touched Liu Biao who was sitting next to him, Then he pressed his index finger on the side of the helmet and spoke in a clear voice.

"This is Xiaguang, we have successfully entered orbit, request for docking!"

Wait no more than two seconds.

The answering voice came from the communication channel.

"...This is the Moon Palace."

"Welcome home, our heroes!"