This star is going to the moon

Chapter 455 "Flying Squirrel No. 1" is a hit! The toilet on the first manned Dragon spacecraft's space journey is broken!

To be fair, not only are Chinese space enthusiasts interested in the maiden flight of "Flying Squirrel No. 1," but even people from the national space program and commercial space companies are planning to see its maiden flight.

After all... it's quite rare.

The only time the Chinese launched a suborbital sounding rocket was when they first started developing aerospace technology in the last century, and then the Long March 1 rocket sent the "Dongfanghong-1" satellite into orbit.

The Long March 1 rocket is much larger than the "Flying Squirrel 1" rocket, with a takeoff mass of over 80 tons!
The 3-ton "Flying Squirrel No. 1" is indeed a small mouse.

It's still the kind that can't get on track.

Therefore, many aerospace groups in China are discussing it with great interest.

What do you think the probability is that the Flying Squirrel No. 1 will successfully complete its maiden flight?

[Haha, you're interested in this too? I agree with Lu Shen's opinion, it can't fly!]

Although Wanchai's space technology is relatively underdeveloped, it shouldn't be unable to take off, right? I think it should be able to hold out until the first-stage rocket separates.

You mean Flying Squirrel No. 1 will explode into a giant firework in the air?

Hey, thinking about it that way, it's actually pretty spectacular.

I think it's unlikely that a small, 3-ton sounding rocket from Taiwan would fail. After all, they have missile technology; a little tweaking would be enough.

Indeed, the Flying Squirrel-1 is a hybrid solid-liquid rocket, not a purely liquid rocket like a missile.

I still trust the judgment of the God of the Road; perhaps he knows some inside information.

[What's the inside story? Lu Yun wouldn't send a commercial spy to a lousy sounding rocket company, would he? If they're going to engage in espionage, it's the other side who wants to send spies into Earth's space program.]

[What if they're government agents? After all, we have some connections on the island, and Lu Yun has several official positions; perhaps he knows something.]

That's true; perhaps Lu Yun knows something.

How about we make a bet to see if Flying Squirrel No. 1 can take flight? The loser treats everyone to dinner!

Haha, okay, count me in. I bet it can fly.

I bet it can hold out until the first stage rocket separates.

I think it will only fly a few dozen or a hundred meters at most before exploding.

I feel that Wan Chai has some technical expertise; the previous two attempts were due to site accidents, so this time they should be able to achieve their goal of a first suborbital flight.

I'll follow the road god, betting it won't fly...

The first flight of the Flying Squirrel No. 1 is scheduled for September 10th, and the company is full of confidence.

Without the interference of those troublemakers on the island, and using Australia's mature rocket launch site, even though the launch pad was a temporary structure built to a small scale according to the Flying Squirrel 1, at least the staff at the launch site had experience in rocket launches.

Therefore, the maiden flight of Flying Squirrel No. 1 will definitely be a success!
With this in mind, Flying Squirrel Company also started live streaming.

At first, the live stream only had traditional Chinese characters in the comments, but soon simplified Chinese characters started to appear.

Come and see what's going on!

Is this the biggest rocket in Wan Chai? It's so small!

Even small ones are cute, haha!

[A gigantic object!]

I'm different. I hope Flying Squirrel No. 1 will succeed. We're all one family, right?

Then the comments section started arguing.

[Damn it! Where did this simplified Chinese character come from?]

[Who says we're family?!]

[So what if you have a big rocket? You're just copying Elon Musk's Falcon 9!]

That's right, everything is plagiarism, shameless!

[Brothers, something's wrong. The data shows the wind speed at the launch site is rapidly increasing. Can we still take off?] [No problem, our Flying Squirrel-1 is a rocket with new technology; it'll definitely be able to…]

[The rain has come down hard! The boss has announced the launch is canceled!]

[Damn it! This is all a conspiracy by simplified Chinese characters!]

Mainland netizens couldn't hold back their reactions after seeing this news.

Although I knew the small rocket was not very wind-resistant, I didn't expect it to be this bad.

Is this what you call strong wind?
But there's nothing we can do about it; the Flying Squirrel No. 1 only weighs 3 tons, not 30 tons or 300 tons.

The rocket didn't launch; all that was left was Taiwanese netizens spewing nonsense in the live chat, while mainland netizens left because they found it boring.

However, those netizens who made the bet are having a bit of a headache.

The launch was canceled, so how will the bet be settled?
Fortunately, the owner of Flying Squirrel No. 1 had already thought of a solution for them.

[The launch of Flying Squirrel No. 1 was canceled due to strong winds, but we haven't given up. The rocket is also functioning properly, so we will launch it again in five days!]

There's nothing more to say then. Come again on the 15th.

Meanwhile, SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft was also preparing for its first all-civilian space tourism mission. The rocket had been transported to the launch pad and was undergoing various checks.

Once the inspection is complete and everything is in order, fuel can be added, and the four civilian tourists can board the Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Compared to the professional astronauts sent to the International Space Station, these four civilian tourists had only trained for a few months and were not professional astronauts, so they could be considered civilians.

Of course, compared to the ordinary people who could buy tickets for the "Lingji" space shuttle for $150 million, the ordinary people transported by the Crew Dragon spacecraft this time are even less ordinary.

After all, it was sponsored by a billionaire with $2 million, and the remaining three passengers were considered ordinary people.

But regardless, Elon Musk's original vision of a civilian-oriented space tourism mission is about to take place for the first time.

Although this is only SpaceX's first time, not the first time in the world, it still fulfills Elon Musk's promise.

However, the Crew Dragon spacecraft was indeed no match for the Kite-class space shuttle, so he didn't pay much attention to the future Crew Dragon spacecraft-based civilian space tourism project. Instead, he devoted himself to the development of the 9-meter diameter "Super Falcon" rocket.

In his vision, the Super Falcon's second-stage rocket could carry 100 people to space at once, marking the true arrival of the era of space tourism!

After all, the Kite-class space shuttle is a fully recoverable spacecraft, and the Super Falcon is also a fully recoverable spacecraft. Their prices can absolutely crush the space shuttle that can only carry 6 people!
On the 15th, the Flying Squirrel-1 resumed its maiden flight livestream. This time, the weather was good and there were no external interferences!

Today will be absolutely smooth sailing! Smooth sailing!

[So exciting! Our rocket is finally about to take off!]

【Countdown 30 seconds! 】

【Countdown 10 seconds! 】

[The countdown to the cool rain has stopped!]

The owner of Flying Squirrel No. 1 spoke again, saying that the system failed to connect successfully, so it did not launch.

However, all problems have been ruled out this time, so the maiden flight will definitely be possible tomorrow!
But who's going to watch the maiden flight of Flying Squirrel 1 tomorrow? Everyone's going to watch the launch of the Crew Dragon spacecraft for civilian space tourism.

The combination of Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon spacecraft is already quite mature, so the maiden space tourism flight on the 16th is perfectly feasible.

However, a completely unexpected situation arose.

Although the Crew Dragon spacecraft used for space tourism and the Crew Dragon spacecraft used for astronaut transportation are the same model, the spacecraft used for space tourism missions is new and has undergone some targeted modifications.

But here lies the problem!
After the space tourism mission took off into space, an insider at SpaceX suddenly revealed that the spacecraft's toilet was leaking!
As the news began to spread around the world, Flying Squirrel No. 1 successfully ignited!

only……

The rocket was ignited, but instead of flying off the launch pad, it remained fixed to the launch pad and burned!

"Damn it! Go find the fire department!!"

(End of this chapter)