50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 701 The Protection of the Older Generation
NASA's failed launch resulted in the loss of the $12 billion Challenger space shuttle and its accompanying rockets (one large and two small).

Not to mention that the Challenger had seven top astronauts on board. Training a qualified astronaut is not just a matter of money; it also requires a huge amount of human, material, and time resources.

NASA has suffered a major blow this time.

Xu Yimin suddenly brought up this matter because, just two days after the Challenger explosion, our country successfully launched its first practical communications and broadcasting satellite.

Although we succeeded this time, no one can guarantee that we will succeed every time. The experience of others' failures is also invaluable and worth learning from.

Space launches are inherently expensive, and every country developing its space program wants to accumulate more launch experience; it's not easy for anyone.

In fact, if we could combine the strength of all the countries in the world to develop aerospace technology together...

This not only reduces the loss of manpower, material resources, and money, but also integrates the wisdom of all scientists, thus reducing the risks of space launches.

Unfortunately, this can only remain a beautiful vision.

However, although we can't all work together, if we can learn from the failures of others, we can reduce the time and cost of accumulating our own experience.

The failure of the Challenger mission serves as a valuable negative example, and the lessons learned will be of great help to our endeavors.

Although Sun Zhiwei has not yet been given this task by his superiors, Xu Yimin speculates that it shouldn't be too far off.

The space agency is probably applying to higher authorities, and this mission will be assigned sooner or later.

For missions involving highly classified organizations like America and NASA, the chances of 100% success without the other party noticing would almost certainly fall to Sun Zhiwei.

Upon hearing Xu Yimin's guess, Sun Zhiwei felt it was pretty much the truth, which is why he replied, "This task isn't difficult, but they might have to wait a little longer."

"How so? How long will it take?"

"I can't investigate the cause of such a large-scale space disaster myself; I can only wait for NASA's investigation results."

"I estimate that NASA's search for the space shuttle wreckage and subsequent analysis and investigation will take about three to five months."

"I can only get their investigation report back to my family's aerospace department after NASA releases its results."

Hearing Sun Zhiwei's confident answer, Xu Yimin couldn't help but laugh:

“Zhiwei, only you could be so confident and obtain NASA’s complete investigation report.”

Upon hearing this, Sun Zhiwei smiled and said, "The country has taken such good care of me, and the leaders have broken so many conventions for my sake."

"If I can't demonstrate any irreplaceable value, people will start gossiping about us."

"Hahaha, not bad, that's the kind of domineering spirit you need."

"With you as our anchor, we old men finally have the confidence to speak up in meetings."

Xu Yimin is still in the Foreign Affairs Building, still holding the same position of section chief for decades, but his actual rank has long exceeded the limits of his post.

The reason he has been occupying this position is to facilitate direct communication with Sun Zhiwei.

Behind his back, many people criticized him for being old and not dying, for occupying a position without doing its job, and for hindering the progress of young people.

Unfortunately, no matter how many opinions there were below, Xu Yimin remained unmoved.

What's even stranger is that no one above him has asked him to leave, and Xu Yimin has remained firmly in his position as section chief for 100 years. This forces his subordinates to leave for other departments in order to advance their careers.

Fortunately, Xu Yimin's department was small, so the number of people affected was limited; otherwise, he might not have been able to withstand the backlash.

Sun Zhiwei was unaware of this information; however, every time he returned to report on his work, he would subconsciously use his spatial ability to envelop the entire building.

Before he knew it, he overheard many people talking behind his back, and that's when he learned the whole story.

Xu Yimin and the others never told him about these things.

According to the older generation, protecting those below them is what they should do; helping them get on their feet and seeing them off is only natural.

Now that Sun Zhiwei knows, he doesn't feel he can enjoy it with a clear conscience. He feels he owes his former superiors even more favors for their long-standing protection.

Before they knew it, the two had been chatting until it was time to leave work. When the bell rang, Xu Yimin began to pack up his documents, and Sun Zhiwei also got up to say goodbye.

After leaving Xu Yimin's office, he went straight to the bike shed, grabbed his bicycle, and headed home.

As for Sun Hongying, well, her daughter has a boyfriend now, and they go to and from get off work together every day. He shouldn't disturb their time together.

Speaking of which, my daughter has been dating Xiao Qihang for almost a year now, and they'll definitely be discussing marriage next year.

According to custom, the husband should visit the in-laws to offer New Year's greetings this year, and the couple should also prepare to meet with their in-laws.

But this year their whole family is going to Qingdao for the Spring Festival, which conflicts with the schedule. What should they do?

Having run out of ideas, Sun Zhiwei could only go home and discuss it with his daughter when she returned.

When he got home, Yang Guihua had just finished cooking Sun Hongying's dinner and was keeping it warm on the stove.

Seeing that he had suddenly returned, Yang Guihua quickly went to get the ingredients to prepare two more dishes.

"Boss, please wait a moment while I fry some eggs and stir-fry some cabbage. It'll be ready soon."

"Forget it, don't bother. Your two daughters will be home from school soon. Go back and prepare dinner for them. I'll just open a can of meat here."

"Boss, there's no rush. The girls will have to do their homework first when they get back. I'll just add a couple of dishes and we'll be done in no time. Canned food isn't really hot food, and it's cold now, so eating too much of it isn't good for their health."

After saying that, she turned around and went back to the kitchen to get busy.

Sun Zhiwei couldn't stop her, and besides, he didn't really like canned food, so he could only let her have her way.

Given Sun Zhiwei's photographic memory and precise control over his strength, learning to cook some home-style dishes shouldn't be difficult.

However, after trying several times, Sun Zhiwei always felt that the dishes he made were like those made by a robot. They were definitely cooked through, but they just didn't taste good.

But he was clearly imitating the chefs' methods exactly. He even specified the order of adding oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar down to the second, and the weight of each seasoning was accurate to 0.1 grams.

But the dishes he made still couldn't compare to those of the master chefs.

But when those chefs add seasonings, they just casually use a large spoon to scoop some from the seasoning jar and put it into the dish, without ever measuring it accurately.

(End of this chapter)