This star is going to the moon

Chapter 489: "The Wandering Earth 2" Press Conference: "Simultaneous North American Release Will Reach 3500 Screens!"

Lu Yun was born in 1993, while the Webb Telescope project began in 1996.

In 2003, Lu Yun was 10 years old when Lao Zhong embarked on his first manned space mission, sending Yang Liwei into space.

That same year, Lu Yun, then a primary school student, became a space enthusiast.

He later learned that the Webb Space Telescope was originally called the "Next Generation Space Telescope," which simply meant it was meant to replace the Hubble Telescope.

Then, a year before Yang Liwei went into space, it was renamed the "James Webb Space Telescope".

This is to commemorate the second NASA administrator, for his key leadership role in the Apollo manned lunar landing program.

The James Webb Space Telescope is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canada Space Agency, and it will become the next generation of space observatory.

It will be the most powerful space telescope ever built, providing images of the first galaxies to form in the universe and exploring planets around distant stars.

Yes, a classic international collaborative project.

The James Webb Space Telescope was originally scheduled to launch in 2007 with an initial budget of $500 million, but...

It was subsequently delayed due to issues such as budget, technology, and the international situation.

Webb’s budget was quickly increased to $1 billion, and the launch was postponed to 2008.

In the new century, the budget was expanded to $18 billion!
The launch date was also postponed to 2009.

Later, the budget increased year by year, quickly exceeding 25 billion, 30 billion, 40 billion... 80 billion...

The launch date was also postponed to 2010, 2013, 2015...

By 2013, when Lu Yun was 20 years old and a college student, the budget for this thing had expanded to $88 billion!
The launch date has been further postponed to 2018!

As a result, by 2017, Lu Yun had already been reborn to make blockbusters and build rockets, and this project was announced to be postponed to 2019.

The engineering team's statement explained that the James Webb Space Telescope and its sunshade are larger and more complex than most detectors; for example, the sunshade release device alone requires more than 100 components, and vibration testing takes much longer.

Therefore, the launch was postponed to the spring of 2019, when it was launched from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana using a European Ariane 5 rocket.

As expected, another unexpected event occurred.

In 2018, Lu Yun's designed and developed Wan Hu rocket had its maiden flight, but this thing was further delayed until 2020 for launch.

then……

Just one month after the announcement, they announced again the following month that the launch wouldn't be possible in 2020 either, and would be postponed for another year.

These repeated delays finally brought the budget to $10 billion, and the date was set for December 2021.

Finally, in October of this year, the James Webb Space Telescope successfully arrived in French Guiana, South America, and was scheduled to launch on December 18th aboard an Ariane 5 rocket launched by the European Space Agency.

As the launch date approached, they announced that it would be postponed from the 18th to the 22nd.

The date was postponed from the 22nd to the 24th.

According to a statement from Webb's team, communication problems persist between the observatory and the launch vehicle system, which is the main reason for the launch delay.

Later, the James Webb Space Telescope was finally packaged and awaited the official launch window.

Space enthusiasts who had taken time off work to watch the launch were barely able to contain their excitement; the launch was finally on the 24th.

Then they watched as the weather worsened day by day, and sure enough, on the 24th...

The launch was aborted due to weather conditions.

On the 25th, the Webb Telescope was finally launched.

From its development beginning in 1996 to its launch on December 25, 2021, it was known as the "King of Legendary Delays".

From an initial budget of $5 million to a final budget of over $100 billion, it was dubbed the "legendary king of budget increases." Now, with the Webb Telescope finally launched, space enthusiasts are saying "I'm done with my youth."

Lu Yun is considered lucky, considering it's three years older than the telescope, and there are even younger space enthusiasts who are the same age as the Webb Telescope.

There are even some that are younger than the Webb Telescope.

I truly watched them grow up.

My youth is over!

[Tears welling up in my eyes, my "big brother" Webb has finally flown into space! He's five years older than me!]

[It's finally launched! The wait of over twenty years has been truly arduous.]

Now that it's launched, let it function properly. It cost $100 billion, so let's hope nothing goes wrong...

Upon seeing this comment, Lu Yun scratched his head.

Believe it or not, it'll happen next year!

In the previous life, around May of next year, a micrometeoroid struck one of the primary mirrors of the James Webb Space Telescope.

Fortunately, the NASA team responsible for operating the telescope expects the impact to have no significant impact on the observatory's data.

However, in July, the James Webb Space Telescope was struck by a micrometeorite, and this time at least one of its mirror images suffered irreparable damage.

Two months later, the telescope's structure also developed problems; the friction rate of one of the rotors increased.

But these are all things from the previous life. Perhaps structural problems will still exist in this life, but micrometeorites and micro-meteorites may not exist.

After all, the probability of such an impact is still very small.

Of course, it's also possible that it could increase.

After all, space launches are more frequent in this era. While micrometeoroids and micrometeorites may be avoided, more man-made space debris may increase the probability of collisions.

Fortunately... the Webb Telescope isn't Chinese.

Lu Yun is also developing a space debris collection device, which can make space orbit safer and recycle man-made space debris to make parts for space factories.

The 34th Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival opened on December 28th and will last for three days, including an opening ceremony, awards ceremony, film screenings, forums, symposiums, press conferences, and project pitching events.

The final day also includes the Golden Rooster Awards' red carpet event, awards ceremony, and closing ceremony.

The film festival was naturally a star-studded event, but when the cast and crew of "The Wandering Earth 2" appeared, especially when Lu Yun and An Fangfei were seen walking hand in hand in the crowd, the screams from the audience were deafening!

The reporters were startled, and the guys carrying cameras got blurry images.

Fortunately, they were professionals, and after quickly regaining their balance, the camera shutter clicked like a machine gun.

“Kakakakakaka——”

The press conference that followed was much quieter, after all, the theme of the press conference was "Little White Dot".

(picture)

Guo Fan took the stage first and, without wasting any time, immediately delivered the content.

"The Wandering Earth 2: The Ladder Crisis is currently undergoing intensive post-production and will be released on the first day of the Lunar New Year in 2022."

"And this time it's a simultaneous North American release, and we've secured a screening in 3500 theaters!"

"It's almost on par with the opening of Hollywood blockbusters..."

(End of this chapter)