Free Web NovelChapter 1431: Chapter 678 The Space Journey Begins_2
"This is also the basis for our collaboration with the Aerospace Bureau."
Zhao Yi’s remark was somewhat unexpected, because in the aerospace field, many people tend to bundle the Aerospace Bureau and Yixing Company together, which makes Yixing Company appear to be less like a normally operating company. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
Now that Zhao Yi had pointed out the cooperative relationship and had clarified the division of interests, he had essentially made a pledge to the shareholders and investors of Yixing Company.
This detail might seem unimportant, but it’s actually very important.
Because Yixing is a normally operating company, and the Lunar Base project it’s involved in is bound to be massive, with investment returns nowhere in sight.
What can the Lunar Base bring? Where are the profits?
All these are unclear.
No normally operating company would only invest without returns; that’s the job of specialized research institutions, not profit-seeking enterprises. No one would invest in a company that only inputs without output.
The press conference went on for a long time, but still, many journalists didn’t get their chance to ask questions.
Most of the subsequent questions were answered by the technical staff of the Aerospace Bureau and Yixing Company. Leaders like Zhao Yi and Zheng Long left the scene earlier.
They left for an internal meeting.
In fact, Yixing had a clear ’profit plan’.
Firstly, there was the manufacturing and sales of small spacecraft. Once the Lunar Base project was completed, other organizations would definitely want to send their scientists in, and they would also want to transport their own materials, build their own ’houses’ around the base, and so they would need transport ships along with accompanying aerospace products.
While it’s not possible to sell large transport ships, smaller, lower-tech ones were marketable.
Additionally, Yixing planned to use the moon as a stepping stone, relying on the super large Z-wave device established there to continuously launch mass-produced small probes into space.
These small probes would head towards the asteroid belt, the Kuiper belt, and even the farther Oort cloud, to detect asteroids and comets and explore their compositions. Once a planet of significant value was found, targeted ’mining’ could be planned.
Subsequent mining would require the use of anti-gravity spacecraft capable of deploying spatial shields, and considerable technology development investment would be needed for this to take shape.
This was going to be resource extraction within the solar system, and would definitely become one of Yixing’s important future profit points.
Of course.
Talking about ’mining’ plans was still premature at this stage, and could only be tentatively planned, but Yixing had already started preliminary design work for mass production of the probes.
——
Finally,
The sightseeing spacecraft entered its fifth round of testing, a confidential test not known to the public.
Half an hour before the spacecraft was to launch, Zhao Yi and the other top leaders entered the spacecraft and took a tour around, noting that compared to previous tests, there had indeed been some modifications.
For example, there were a few ’luxury rooms’, which were essentially two rooms combined, equipped with advanced space connections, radar communication, and other devices, including a small screen directly linked to the external cameras.
The decor of the ’luxury rooms’ was also comparatively extravagant; stepping inside felt like being in a hotel, not on a spacecraft.
Clearly,
these were prepared for the top leadership and people like Zhao Yi, and would likely be used in the future, but some equipment would definitely be removed.
Beyond that, there were other changes, including some unnecessary ones.
Zhao Yi noticed that the front row seats in the exhibition hall had an extra safety belt compared to the back rows, also provided with emergency oxygen bottles, and even special space suits that ensured safety were tucked under the front seats, bulging beneath and making the seats look much more luxurious.
In other words, they appeared slightly awkward.
The high-ranking officials and Zhao Yi took their seats in the front row of the exhibition hall, surrounded by a crowd of people, which even included two armed security personnel.
The exhibition hall was essentially just a large hall.
The walls around were covered with various introductions, most of which were related to space travel and the tour spaceship, with a section reserved for "Space Journey" image and text descriptions. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
In the center of the exhibition hall was a large screen, directly linked to cameras on the outside of the ship, providing a close-up view of the exterior.
When there were ten minutes left to launch, a large group of people boarded the ship, including some technicians and flight attendants.
These were all staff members.
The flight attendants were the most professional among them; they would be the first batch of service personnel on the space shuttle.
These were no ordinary flight attendants; they had been recruited by the company for several months, with the shortest training lasting three months. They were able to withstand long periods in zero gravity and had a detailed understanding of the onboard equipment, travel requirements, etc.
A total of thirty-five flight attendants boarded the ship. They were there to perform service duties, but it was also their first time aboard, doing a trial run of the service workflow.
Most of the flight attendants were male, mainly because the job required good physical condition and a very calm mind to make correct emergency responses. Besides, the training process was arduous, and many initial applicants were eliminated.
The remuneration for the space shuttle flight attendants was excellent; just the base salary was ten thousand yuan, and they would receive an additional ten thousand yuan for each trip into space.
In other words, by accompanying the tour spaceship into space once a month, which is roughly equivalent to working for two days, they could earn a salary of twenty thousand yuan.
Currently, as they were in their probationary period, they only received eighty percent of the salary and bonuses, which, considering that most of the flight attendants were recent technical school graduates, could be said to be quite high.
As the time for launch approached, a reminder came through the public address system, "Attention all passengers, the space journey is about to begin. Please return to your rooms or seats and fasten your seatbelts."
Flight attendants came over to help the high-ranking officials buckle two sets of safety belts, securing both the upper body and legs to the chairs.
In reality, a normal launch only required one safety belt since, unlike an airplane taking off and ascending at an angle, the spaceship would ascend vertically from its position, buoyed by anti-gravity technology. As such, passengers would not experience significant jolts, and the stability was far greater than that of an airplane taking off.
After remembering to fasten his safety belt, a high-ranking official turned to Zhao Yi and asked in perplexity, "Why have you only fastened one safety belt?"
"I’m young, not afraid!" Zhao Yi laughed heartily as he responded.
The high-ranking official was somewhat puzzled.
Soon, he discovered that being strapped at the legs wasn’t a pleasant sensation, because as the anti-gravity system activated, he only felt a sense of weightlessness, his entire body floating lightly.
As everyone else was "moving their legs" in their seats, he couldn’t do anything and immediately grumbled, "Unfasten them! Help me get out! Everyone else has one seatbelt, and I’m the only one with two. Isn’t this discrimination?"
The others didn’t know what to do, so Zhao Yi unfastened his own seatbelt and, with a smile, went over to lend a hand.
Actually, the launch process of the spaceship was very safe.
Everyone entered a ’semi-weightless’ state; partly due to the significant impact of the anti-gravity effect, which made them feel weightless, and partly because the spaceship was accelerating upward, exerting an upward force.
The combination of the two replicated a feeling akin to semi-weightlessness.
Apart from the sensation of ’semi-weightlessness,’ there was no other feeling, as the spaceship was accelerating rapidly. The cameras on the ship’s exterior were turned off, and the screen in the exhibition hall did not light up; there was nothing to see.
The high-ranking official asked, "Have we taken off yet? I don’t feel anything."
"We’ve probably gone up ten thousand meters by now, definitely above the clouds," Zhao Yi checked the time, made a rough estimate, and then simply stood up, "I’m going back to my room. From there I can look outside through the window. There’s nothing to see here."
"Right, back to the rooms! Back to the rooms!" The high-ranking official also realized that, although the exhibition hall was spacious and could accommodate many people, it lost its purpose without the screen being active, so it was not as good as being in the rooms.
The high-ranking official unbuckled his seatbelt and immediately someone came to assist him as he floated lightly toward his room.
