In the video, the silver-colored cylindrical core module quietly floated the Moon’s orbit. A fist-sized ion thruster propulsion nozzle slowly pushed the core capsule to turn, leaving behind a blue glow.
The folded solar panels soon began to spread out toward the sun, like the wings of a flying eagle.
The video was only ten minutes long. Skyglow, on the other hand, began to shine from the moonlight.
This scene was like a painting.
In less than half an hour after the video was released, the comments section of the video blew up.
[Is that our Moon Palace? It’s so beautiful! (excited)]
[So cool!!!]
[I hope I can go up there in my lifetime.]
[The Moon looks so barren. Maybe we should plant something on there.]
[China is the best! (fist) (fist)]
For many years, China had been behind western countries in the field of aerospace. The Chang’e 5 mission had been hugely criticized.
But now, China managed to break through ion thruster technology. They were able to deliver a space station to Moon orbit, presenting itself as the leader of aerospace.
Only people in the aerospace industry knew how hard-fought this win was!
Less than an hour after the Moon Palace was successfully deployed, the news quickly spread across the world.
NASA first confirmed the news on its official website and Twitter, and this alerted the Roscosmos, European Space Agency, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), who all issued announcements and sent their own congratulatory messages to China.
Regardless of whether or not the countries had a competitive relationship with China, this showed their acknowledgment of China’s strength.
Even though NASA didn’t want to, they had to admit that China’s actions on the Moon had far exceeded their expectations.
Even they weren’t sure if they could place a space station on the moon. In some sense, China just surpassed them.
After various major space agencies successively confirmed the news that the Moon Palace was successfully deployed, the reporters from BBC combined interviews with NASA officials and the spokesperson of the China National Space Administration, to give an unbiased report…
“… So far, it seems like China has taken the lead in the exploration and development of lunar resources. No country has ever had the capabilities to place a permanent facility in lunar orbit.
“According to NASA experts, Moon Palace’s success was mainly due to the great progress made by China in ion thruster propulsion technology. It is not easy to achieve accurate control with the traditional chemical propulsion methods, but with ion thruster propulsion, it is much more precise.
“I have to say, this is very surprising. Compared to traditional aerospace powers, China is far inferior to America and Russia. I mean, the Americans have begun to develop a commercially available spaceflight.
“But somehow, they did it.
“The success of the Moon Palace is only a small step in human spaceflight, but it’s a big step for civilization as a whole!”
In this unbiased report, BBC spoke positively on China and the Moon Palace. After the video was posted on Youtube and other video sites, the report ignited widespread discussion among foreign netizens.
In contrast to the excitement of domestic netizens, these discussions were more or less filled with envy and hatred.
Especially the Americans netizens… They were still high from the successful life support system launch. However, less than a month later, China announced that its core module was in lunar orbit, taking away America’s attention.
They were all a little disheartened.
Of course, some people didn’t care.
For example, a well-known talk show host Jimmy Tang posted a tweet to cheer on NASA.
[I heard that China’s Moon Palace was successfully deployed? I don’t know why you guys have your heads down, it’s not that amazing.
[Even though China successfully sent their space station to the moon, NASA has begun to colonize Mars, which is tens of millions of kilometers away. It is obvious who is ahead in the aerospace game.
[What’s more is that, we also have plans to build a space station on the moon, like our “Lunar Gateway” project! However, we are more concerned about safety, that’s why we carefully set the construction period to begin in 2022.
[Our BFR rocket is approaching Mars. Soon, we will be able to receive news of the life support system deployment. Then we will be able to send our colonists to a new planet!
[My name is Jimmy Tang, catch me next Saturday night on the BBC, where I’ll be talking with three astronauts.
[If you are interested in the Ares program, please follow me and my show!
[…]
The tension brought by this space race quickly spread to other technical fields.
A black car parked outside the White House, Washington DC.
Director Carson was wearing a blue suit. He opened the car door and walked out. He began to quickly walk toward the White House.
After Director Carson arrived at the president’s office, he knocked on the door. After hearing “come in”, he reached out and pushed open the door.
When he entered the office, the president was sitting at his desk, and he seemed to be staring at a document.
Director Carson hesitated for a second. He wasn’t sure if he should interrupt the president.
However, he made up his mind.
Half an hour ago, he received two pieces of news, both of them were important…
Director Carson gulped and took a deep breath.
“Mr. President.”
The monotonous voice broke through the silent office.
The president seemed to be contemplating something as he stared at the document on his desk.
However, after a brief silence, the president responded, “Director Carson.”
Director Carson cleared his throat and said, “Sir, I have good news and bad news, which one do you want to hear first?”
The president seemed to be tangled in his thoughts. He twirled his pen and suddenly spoke.
“I like to eat the broccoli first before I enjoy my steak.”
After hearing the president’s answer, Director Carson lowered his head and replied, “Sorry, I don’t know what you mean.”
“What I mean is, I hate the taste of broccoli, I hate having to eat it after enjoying my delicious steak…”
The president put his pen down on the document with a CIA stamp. He looked at Director Carson and crossed his fingers.
“Let’s start with the bad news.”
