Chapter 264: An American Failure (Part 2)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Their lunar spacecraft was supposed to be the most advanced, right?

Why did this happen?

They were puzzled.

In the blink of an eye.

Two hours passed.

It was deep into the night.

Although there were still many people in the live broadcast room, He Yun, who had been continuously speaking and live streaming, was also very tired.

Tang Rui looked at the time.

He contacted Gaoyang to release an unmanned camera, attach it to the lunar spacecraft, and then return.

“Okay, that’s all for today’s commentary. Next, we will release an unmanned camera, attach it to the lunar spacecraft, and broadcast from the first-person perspective.

“I’ll be back tomorrow morning at 8 to continue the commentary. It’s already late, and He Yun is going off work to rest. If you like, you can watch our return journey from the first-person perspective.”

After He Yun finished speaking, the director immediately switched the camera.

The live broadcast room split into two views: one from the lunar spacecraft and one from the space shuttle.

The view from the lunar spacecraft wasn’t very interesting.

At most, it showed high-definition shots of the cosmic starry sky.

But the first-person view from the space shuttle was really interesting.

As Honglian controlled the engine to accelerate.

The space shuttle returned to Earth’s orbit in less than five minutes and then plunged into the atmosphere.

The speed stunned everyone.

“Okay, that’s all for today’s presentation. See you tomorrow morning at 8. Goodbye!”

The space shuttle’s first-person view disappeared.

The live broadcast room was left with only the first-person view from the lunar spacecraft.

But the chat room was very lively.

“Wow… what was that speed?”

“I went to the bathroom and came back to find they had already returned to Earth?”

“Is my bladder that big? How long was I gone?”

“Tonight’s live broadcast, I feel like I understood it, but also didn’t. Can someone more knowledgeable explain?”

“Can’t you look it up online? Always bothering us knowledgeable people, we’re tired too.”

The netizens in the chat room began to boast and joke.

Everyone was very happy.

Initially, they thought the American moon landing broadcast wouldn’t be interesting, but then… they got a surprise.

Chinese netizens were excited, but people abroad were restless.

Scary.

Too scary.

They had managed to keep calm when the space shuttle easily caught up with the lunar spacecraft, as a short burst of acceleration was possible for the lunar spacecraft too, though it would consume a lot of fuel.

But the speed of the space shuttle’s return journey truly frightened them; they could see Earth visibly getting larger.

That kind of speed was terrifying.

What to do?

They decided to convene a think tank meeting.

‘What do you think about their space shuttle?’ the big boss asked.

Members of the think tank frowned and remained silent.

How were they going to think?

By just sitting and watching.

With no data, what could they think about?

After discussing for a long time, they came up with nothing, instead just cursing the special department.

Useless… only good at making dirty money.

Not a single piece of useful intelligence.

The next day, Tang Rui got up early, ready to enjoy the spectacle.

Gaoyang and He Yun also woke up early.

After taking care of personal hygiene, eating breakfast, and changing clothes.

They boarded the space shuttle again.

At 8 o’clock sharp, the director timely switched the live broadcast view.

“Hello, viewers and friends, we meet again. I am the field host He Yun. We have just flown out of the atmosphere and are heading towards the lunar spacecraft to continue the live broadcast.”

Red Lotus accelerated the space shuttle.

In less than ten minutes, they had caught up with the lunar spacecraft.

At that time, He Yun had just started explaining some scientific content.

When they arrived beside the lunar spacecraft, Gaoyang’s camera again focused on the lunar spacecraft.

Through the porthole, viewers in the live broadcast room could clearly see the three astronauts inside the lunar spacecraft preparing to sleep.

One of the astronauts suddenly noticed the light dimming.

He turned his head to look.

Damn!

The space shuttle was here again.

Not only were the astronauts in despair, but the staff at NASA’s space command center were also collapsing.

It was already difficult to be on night duty, and now, they had to endure this torment.

What about their so-called most advanced lunar spacecraft, the fastest moon landing speed?

Even if they were faster, it would take them 46 hours to reach the moon’s orbit.

Look at them.

Whoosh, they flew back yesterday.

And whoosh, they’re back today.

This made their lunar spacecraft seem like garbage.

In every aspect, garbage.

The Americans were very uncomfortable.

This moon landing was meant to inspire the public and also tell their allies that following them was the right choice.

Decades ago they landed on the moon.

Decades later, not only could they land on the moon, but they also did it quickly.

But now… after one live broadcast.

The strength of the American lunar spacecraft was unclear, but it certainly wasn’t as strong as their space shuttle.

That was a very uncomfortable fact to swallow.

Luckily it was night, and their people would only watch for a while before going to sleep.

Since there was no solution, they could only choose to be spiritually victorious.

In the blink of an eye, a day passed.

Domestic netizens were thrilled, occasionally watching the live broadcast and bragging with other netizens.

By this time, the domestic netizens knew.

Our space shuttle could directly fly to the moon, or maybe it had already gone there, it just hadn’t been made public.

If it weren’t for the Americans boastfully saying they were going to land on the moon again, perhaps this very advanced space shuttle wouldn’t have been showcased, so they should thank the Americans.

But regardless.

Having the capability to land on the moon was what mattered.

Public disclosure was not important; having the capability to do so was.

Through more than a day of live broadcasting, everyone clearly understood.

Our space shuttle was far superior to the American lunar spacecraft in every aspect, completely outperforming the lunar spacecraft.

So everyone was happy all day long.

When the live broadcast ended at night, the live broadcast room again showed the first-person view from the lunar spacecraft.

“After seeing the speed of our space shuttle, looking at the lunar spacecraft feels boring.”

“Too slow, slower than a turtle.”

“Hurry up, my neighbor’s Grandma Li, who is over eighty, is faster than you.”

“Don’t rush them, it’s useless, performance is everything, they can’t help it.”

The netizens mocked and jeered, having a great time.

The night passed without incident.

The next day, the space shuttle took off again, spending over half an hour catching up with the lunar spacecraft and once again broadcasting it live.

“Viewers and friends, you can see that the lunar spacecraft has started to decelerate.

“This deceleration will last an hour, and then the lunar spacecraft will enter the moon’s orbit…”

He Yun continued with her explanations, now very familiar with every function and situation of the lunar spacecraft.

More than an hour later, the lunar spacecraft entered the moon’s orbit and began to adjust its attitude for orbiting the moon.

At that moment, the space shuttle accelerated and flew straight toward the moon.

The director switched the view again.

The live broadcast room showed two views, one from the lunar spacecraft and one from the space shuttle.

“Viewers and friends, we’ll go out first, exit the cabin to film the landing scene of the lunar spacecraft.

“The current landing site is the Sea of Tranquility, where the Americans landed on the moon decades ago.”

After He Yun finished speaking, she put on her helmet.

The space shuttle landed.

The two of them walked out of the hatch.

Below the hatch ladder were the footprints left by Armstrong years ago, with the remnants of equipment left by the Americans during their moon landing.

Then, He Yun took the camera and filmed Gaoyang stepping down, his foot stepping into that footprint.

At that moment, the chat in the live broadcast room was all about one sentence.

“If others can get there, so can we!”

When Gaoyang lifted his foot again, the footprint below had changed to his own shape.

Just kidding…

The exoskeleton space suits worn by Gaoyang and He Yun had built-in mechanical power-assist devices.

That one step…

Not just the footprint, even the American lunar spacecraft could be kicked to create a hole.

“Viewers and friends, now we can see that the American lunar spacecraft has begun its descent and is about to land in the open space in front of us. We will now start broadcasting their moon landing process.”

Gaoyang picked up the camera again and began filming the descent of the lunar module.

In the presence of countless netizens, only two of the three retro-thrusters of the landing module successfully fired.

One did not ignite.

This resulted in the lunar module tipping over.

The Americans had suffered a spectacular failure under the watchful eye of billions..