Chapter 616 Moon Rescue

Houston.

The third working room of NASA headquarters.

Hundreds of media people were holding long guns and short cannons, whispering and waiting.

Dongmei time, half past ten.

Anne appeared on the podium and adjusted the microphone: "Everyone, please be quiet. Mr. Director is about to speak."

In an instant, the voice in the entire working hall became much quieter, and all the reporters stared eagerly at the podium.

After a while, George, with a serious face, walked up to the podium: "Gentlemen and ladies, we deeply regret and deplore the occurrence of this accident, but NASA will not give up any astronaut."

The photographers below quickly pressed the shutter, or if there was an online live broadcast platform, they uploaded it directly to the platform.

George continued: "We have reached an agreement with the Space Exploration Company to launch a spacecraft to the moon base in about 10 days, carrying clean drinking water, treatment drugs and equipment, and try to save the lives of the two astronauts as much as possible. They take it home."

The reporters below were a little surprised by this result. Obviously, this answer was somewhat unexpected.

The CNN reporter raised his hand.

George nodded.

"Mr. Director, is this too risky? After all, there have been consecutive failures before. If the launch fails, is there a backup plan?"

In response to the CNN reporter's question, George nodded: "Any space launch mission has the possibility of failure, but this is not the reason for us to give up the two astronauts."

He paused for a moment, drank some water, and then continued to reply: "At the same time, we have prepared a backup plan. If the Falcon Heavy launch fails, NASA will launch an Era developed by Blue Origin around December 10. Launch vehicle.”

The Fox News reporter raised his hand, and so did other reporters.

George clicked on the reporter from America Express, who stood up and asked: "Mr. Administrator, have you ever considered the cost of using a billion-meter launch vehicle to save two astronauts who are destined to die?"

"Indeed, we may have to pay a price of 2.7 to 4.2 billion yuan for this plan, but I think it is worth it, because if we give up these two astronauts today, there will still be people willing to develop that space for the sake of human spaceflight. The vast starry sky?”

Bang bang bang... A few people among the reporters took the lead in applauding, and others followed suit.

George showed a trace of sadness: "I am very sad about this accident. After the lunar rescue plan is over, I will resign as NASA administrator and take responsibility for this incident."

Under George's series of combined punches, the negative impact of the Sentinel 1 nuclear leak was quickly suppressed.

The Noah Society also quickly used the media resources at their disposal to promote the "Moon Rescue Plan" for the astronauts. The human beacon will not abandon any citizen.

Soon the direction of public opinion changed rapidly, and George arranged for two relatives of the astronauts to come forward to speak out.

It even aroused North American civilian support for NASA and sympathy for astronauts.

Online YouTube, Twitter, and others immediately launched prayer activities and announced plans to film a science fiction movie about lunar rescue.

Many people in Houston spontaneously held prayer activities in the park near NASA headquarters.

Anyway, nearby businesses selling candles, carnations, stereos, cards, etc. were all sold out in less than a day.

The people at home were dumbfounded.

NASA, on the other hand, is not dragging its feet and is indeed preparing to launch the Falcon launch vehicle to launch an 18-ton space capsule to the moon base.

George, Frank, and Musk appeared at the launch site in Florida. The Falcon Heavy, which had previously been suspended from launch, was being modified at a nearby factory.

Looking at the engineers who were re-adjusting the launch vehicle and space capsule in the assembly workshop below, George said expressionlessly: "Musk, you know what these people say."

Musk, who usually seems cynical on social media, is also very serious: "Don't worry, these are the people I have screened, and they will never talk nonsense."

He understood the seriousness of this matter. If it were leaked, the top management of Noah Association would make him lose everything or even disappear from the world.

George did not fully trust him, but continued: "The FBI will send someone to assist you. Please cooperate more, otherwise something will happen and we will all be dead."

"OK!" Musk agreed with a shrug.

In fact, he wished the FBI would send someone to help, otherwise if something happened, he would be the first to bear the brunt.

The space capsule launched by the Falcon Heavy this time was indeed two space capsules, but there was no drinking water, medicine, medical equipment or the like inside.

Obviously, the rescue spacecraft that George mentioned was actually a spacecraft that was originally intended to be launched. Its main purpose was to supplement the Outpost 1 base.

How could he waste billions of dollars just for two astronauts?

Obviously, what I said at the press conference yesterday was just for the occasion.

But unless he and other NASA managers said anything, who knew what was being transported on the spacecraft.

The external communications of Hawke and Wade were also controlled by the Lunar Command Center. The two only knew that the headquarters would launch a rescue spacecraft to take them home.

Little did they know that George and Noah had already planned to give up on them. As for how to deal with the aftermath, they had made arrangements properly so that there wouldn't be any surprises.

Thanks to NASA's comfort, Hawke and Wade also felt at ease at this time, relying on nutrient solution and fruits to persevere.

Originally, Hawke had planned that if the headquarters gave up on the two of them, they would modify the communication equipment and send a distress signal to the Chinese people at the Toad Palace Space Station.

It's just that the two of them overestimated the bottom line of human nature and their own importance. In the huge strategic competition, they were nothing more than expendable items.

George discussed with Frank and Musk for a while, and after talking about security and confidentiality issues, he was still a little worried and ordered:

"Frank, please assist Musk and revise all relevant information. You are absolutely not allowed to leave any records. What we are launching is a rescue spacecraft."

On the two words "rescue ship", his tone became much more serious.

Although Musk despised the other party in his heart, he smiled and replied: "That's right, this is the rescue spacecraft."

"No problem." Frank also knew the importance.

As long as the two astronauts died gloriously, what they did would not be exposed.

As for the future, after a few years, the truth of this matter is destined to not leave much evidence. People will only remember that NASA spent billions of dollars to save the two astronauts.

George arranged the work here, and also arranged to go to the Blue Origin factory in person to discuss the lunar spacecraft with Bezos.

Out there on the internet.

The popularity of lunar rescue remains high, and everyone is watching NASA to see whether the other party will actually launch the launch vehicle as scheduled.

It’s just that ordinary people don’t know that NASA has changed the spacecraft’s beams and pillars in this process.

Time passes day by day.

On the domestic side, although they were surprised by NASA's approach, they did not express any opinions. At most, they wished the two astronauts a smooth return.

After all, the China Space Administration is already busy enough with the Guanghan Palace base and other aerospace work, so there is no time to spend all day staring at the opponent's moon rescue.

Thank you for your support (ω｀)