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For many ordinary people, the most complicated part of life is probably that although they are completely ignorant, their lives have actually been arranged in a very clear way.

It's just that some arrangements are a rare stroke of luck for them, while others are pure tragedy.

In my youth, I loved rebellious phrases like "My fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens." It's only when I reach middle age that I realize just how cringeworthy those phrases can be.

Fortunately, this concern did not exist for the first interstellar explorers who were in deep space.

The three-day journey from Earth to the Moon consisted mostly of tedious waiting, aside from checking the spacecraft's condition daily and reporting to the command center on Earth at specific times.

After the initial excitement of looking at Earth from space, it was actually quite boring most of the time.

Especially when the technology was not so advanced, considering the possible extreme situations where the spacecraft could not successfully dock with the cargo compartment at the perigee, the spacecraft also had to carry spare return fuel and basic living supplies.

This further restricted the living space for the eight astronauts on the first moon landing, making this significant exploration journey far less pleasant and romantic than the space explorers depicted in science fiction movies.

Even completing a daily workout requires dividing it into four time slots, with each person exercising in pairs.

Fortunately, the first eight astronauts to land on the moon had undergone relevant training on Earth beforehand.

After all, according to the plan, they were to overcome numerous difficulties and live on the moon for nearly a month. Just as Qiao Yu said, for the meticulous Chinese aerospace engineers, they had already considered all possible scenarios in the past few years.

As for astronauts, they suffered a lot on Earth. Of course, that's normal.

It's important to know that the eight astronauts ultimately selected for the lunar mission were chosen from among China's 800 most elite pilots through rigorous selection processes. Their abilities in all aspects were exceptional, and each and every one of them possessed unwavering determination.

So during the three-day voyage, there were no noteworthy incidents.

After a long journey of seventy-one hours, the spacecraft arrived at the lunar perigee twenty-eight minutes ahead of schedule.

At this moment, the command center on Earth also became tense again.

Although the subsequent near-month docking was not broadcast live to the public, the atmosphere in the command center was noticeably more solemn than during the live broadcast.

This marks the first time in human history that a docking has been successfully achieved in lunar orbit. While the success of the docking doesn't actually affect the lunar landing itself, it directly impacts the ability to successfully establish humanity's first lunar base.

After all, this is a truly milestone event in the history of human civilization. If it were just about landing on the moon, Western University would have done that decades ago.

The lack of live streaming is not due to a lack of confidence, but rather because the technology is too advanced to be easily demonstrated to the public.

Although a lot of docking technology has been accumulated on the space station, this time the situation is different.

Even at a distance of 360,000 kilometers, without considering any losses, the speed of light would require a delay of about 2.4 seconds.

Considering the signal attenuation during propagation and the conversion time for receiving and reading, the difficulty of lunar orbit docking is self-evident.

It's important to know that whether it's a manned spacecraft or a cargo spacecraft, in order to maintain a speed of approximately 1.6 kilometers per hour in near-lunar orbit without falling back down.

It's true that a small difference can lead to a huge error.

In addition, the uneven distribution of the moon's mass causes orbital perturbations, requiring real-time trajectory corrections.

In addition, since the ground control center cannot directly control the spacecraft's attitude, it must rely on a fully autonomous navigation system.

None of the above are the most difficult. After all, before this docking, Chang'e 5 had already achieved a lunar orbit docking between an unmanned orbiter and the return capsule, completing the entire process autonomously with an error of less than five centimeters.

But this time the situation is different, because the mass of both manned and cargo spacecraft is incomparable to that of unmanned orbiters and return capsules. According to calculations, the inertial momentum is 7.6 times that of the previous docking.

Of course, the technology used this time is also different.

Last time, we used purely autonomous LiDAR navigation; this time, we used AI predictive control plus quantum inertial navigation, employing a triple heterogeneous computer voting decision-making system.

These are all things that are not convenient to disclose to the public at the moment.

However, the lunar landing process after successful docking will still be broadcast live. And the landing won't be immediate after docking; the moon will likely orbit for several more hours.

There is also ample time for promotion.

The location chosen for this lunar landing was also different from the six previous Western lunar landings, as it was near Shackleton Crater at the lunar south pole.

The reason for choosing this location is quite simple: it's because the first [project/structure] will be built here.

On the one hand, the bottom of the crater here has been in the shadows for a long time and has not been exposed to sunlight, so there may be water brought by the asteroid impact, which has extremely high research value.

On the other hand, the mountain ranges on the edge of the crater receive more than 80 percent of the sunlight throughout the year due to the moon's tilt angle.

This means that, given the unlikely prospect of building a nuclear power plant on the moon and the limited energy storage capacity in the early stages, only a small number of solar panels are needed to provide sufficient power for a small research base.

Everything is calculated very meticulously, with a margin of safety. A small research base requires approximately 18 kilowatt-hours of electricity per day for life support, communication, and experimental equipment.

The aerospace-grade photovoltaic panels taken to the moon this time have an efficiency of 45%, while the solar radiation intensity on the moon is about 1361 W/m.

Without considering degradation, the theoretical power output of a photovoltaic panel can reach 612.45W per square meter.

With the exceptionally long sunshine hours of Yongzhou Peak, laying three square meters of solar photovoltaic panels is basically sufficient to meet the daily needs of the research station.

Of course, not everything is theoretical, but the photovoltaic panels that were taken into the sky this time, once deployed, are enough to cover 50 square meters. This far exceeds the theoretical requirement.

The main consideration is that the initial construction phase requires a large amount of electricity.

Although everything has been carefully considered, the most crucial thing now is whether the docking of the spacecraft in near-lunar orbit can be successfully completed.

Now comes the most crucial moment; the two high-speed spaceships are rapidly approaching each other according to calculations.

Astronauts can even visually observe the cargo spacecraft through cameras outside the spacecraft.

At this moment, even Zheng Xiwen, who was standing next to Qiao Yu, couldn't help but feel nervous.

Although he didn't understand much about engineering technology, he was very aware of how difficult it was to achieve a perfect connection through his exposure to the field.

Most importantly, this directly determines whether humanity can historically establish a base on the moon. If docking fails, there's no need to broadcast the subsequent lunar landing live. After all, China's ambition is to broadcast a month-long live event.

The thought of the world witnessing how the first lunar research base in human history was built is incredibly exciting.

Zheng Xiwen is also looking forward to the day when China officially stations troops on the moon.

Qiao Yu could sense this tension, and turned to look at Zheng Xiwen in surprise, asking, "Hey, Lao Zheng, what are you so nervous about?"

"Huh? Is it that obvious?" Zheng Xiwen asked instinctively.

Zheng Xiwen knew, of course, that he was almost bursting with nervousness, but he really didn't expect that he would actually show it.

"You forgot how sharp my ears are! Your breathing is much heavier than usual! Look, your fists are clenched. Let me tell you, there's about a 4 to 5 second delay between the command center screen and what's actually happening in real time."

So there's absolutely no need to rush. By the time you see the two spaceships approaching, they'll have already successfully docked on the moon. The two spaceships can then land hand-in-hand.

Qiao Yu casually uttered some nonsense.

Zheng Xiwen actually knew all of this.

When he came in, Yu Yanjiang had already explained the whole situation to Qiao Yu. He wasn't deaf, so he heard everything clearly.

How can you do it so easily?

"Because of confidence! So, Lao Zheng, you're still not confident enough subconsciously! As long as you can be as confident as me, and believe that this docking will be 100% successful, you won't be so nervous and anxious!" Qiao Yu said dismissively.

Zheng Xiwen was speechless.

When scientists get idealistic, no one else matters! People who could shout the slogan "Man will conquer nature" back then probably weren't this confident.

"Of course, this confidence didn't come from nowhere. You know how much effort we all put into this operation. Over 100,000 engineers tested it countless times! When we did the simulations, we took all sorts of difficulties into account."

It's even many times more difficult than real-world docking, and docking can be successful even in the most extreme cases, let alone the fact that we haven't encountered any extreme situations yet. I can't even imagine what problems could cause an accident, you know?

"But the new technology they're using this time... Mr. Yu just said that they estimate only an 80% success rate..."

"Don't listen to General Manager Yu. These engineers have a habitually pessimistic mindset. They like to say things like, 'Consider failure before victory,' you know? What 80%? That's just giving you guys a low expectation!"

That way, when he succeeds and reports it to his superiors, he can brag about it! If he were to tell the truth, success would be 100%, and with all the anticipation built up beforehand, there wouldn't be much of a surprise when it actually succeeds. And what if next time the success rate isn't 100%?

Qiao Yu said dismissively.

Zheng Xiwen was listening in a daze when he suddenly heard cheers coming from the command center hall below.

When he subconsciously looked up at the screen, he discovered that the two spaceships had just been pressed tightly together.

Zheng Xiwen was momentarily dazed as he watched the group of people in the command hall below jump up and hug each other.

Wow, in just a couple of sentences, two spaceships in lunar orbit actually docked successfully?

"See, I told you it wasn't as difficult as you thought. Those engineers are the most corrupt! If they don't exaggerate the difficulty, no one will believe them next time they emphasize the challenges."

Qiao Yu shrugged and said calmly.

Zheng Xiwen was very excited, but didn't know what to say. Well, anyway, it was a success, so whatever Qiao Yu said was right.

He was even starting to believe that what Qiao Yu said might be true. Those scientists who work in engineering really do have a habit of exaggerating the difficulties...

However, he didn't have much time to react. The door to the command room above the command hall was suddenly pushed open, and Yu Yanjiang rushed in, grabbed Qiao Yu, and started screaming...

"Dock docking successful! We really succeeded! Who would believe we could actually build a base on the moon? The moon, that's 380,000 kilometers away..."

You could tell the old man was extremely excited; he was even starting to ramble incoherently.

You know, this is a senior academician! Zheng Xiwen had never seen the deputy commander-in-chief lose his composure like this before.

"No, Chief Engineer Yu, don't get so excited. This is just the successful docking. The real event is the lunar landing!"

Qiao Yu was trying to calm Yu Yanjiang down.

He never expected the old man to be so excited as to hug him so tightly. What was most infuriating was that Old Zheng, who was standing next to him, didn't react at all.

"How could I not be excited? Qiao Yu! The lunar base has really been built, and you deserve all the credit! As for the lunar landing, the docking was successful, so the landing will definitely not be a problem. We have too much experience in this area!"

Hearing Yu Yanjiang's words, Zheng Xiwen was certain: it's hard to say whether someone in engineering has a clean heart, but Qiao Yu's heart was definitely not clean...

Who says engineers always emphasize difficulties in everything they do?! Isn't this the confidence they had when they landed on the moon?

"No, no, no, Lao Yu, this isn't like you. You're being too confident. What if something goes wrong? I suggest you go down below and take charge! People will panic if they realize our leader isn't here."

“Speaking of the backbone, you are the backbone! This old man is still here to keep things in order for you! By the way, aren’t you going down to say a few words to everyone?”

Qiao Yu thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Let's forget about it now. Let's wait until our lunar nuclear power plant is built. It's just a small foothold; we can boast about it from the outside, but we can't let ourselves get carried away."

You promised me back then that you'd build a tourist attraction on the moon! So ordinary people could travel there. And you even promised to put up a relief sculpture of my grandfather and his biography at the exit!

The neighborhood I've been longing for is finally built! All that's missing is the lunar space station and the lunar scenic area! So, I really don't have much to say right now! I'll have to wait until we can see the moon and construction can begin before I say anything more.

Upon hearing this, Yu Yanjiang paused for a moment, then gave a wry smile.

He was just bluffing back then. After all, at that time, a manned lunar landing was still just a pipe dream!

However, on the other hand, the construction of the lunar research base is already on the agenda! The next step is simply to slowly move things up there, like ants carrying food!

As long as the technology matures and the economy begins to improve, will that day be far off? (End of Chapter)