Chapter 159: Spaceport

In the vacuum of space, beside the colossal "Hercules" aerospace plane, robotic arms unloaded steel tubes measuring two meters in diameter and ten meters in length, crafted from a premium black-gold alloy. The interiors of these steel pipes were packed with a wide array of supplies; since making a trip to space was no small feat, not an inch of space could be wasted.

Luo Xiaoyao, Zhan Fei, and the others worked in pairs, maneuvering along the length of the massive steel rods in the zero-gravity environment. The connection zones had been meticulously calculated and planned in advance, allowing the pipes to fit together seamlessly. Securing them required nothing more than tightening a few simple screws.

As more steel tubes were continually unloaded and assembled in space, a massive framework rapidly took shape. Luo Xiaoyao and his team then began extracting various equipment items from the hollow interiors of the pipes to fill out the structure.

Following standard procedure, the first components to be assembled were functional robotic arms. Energy batteries and other vital power sources were neatly concealed within the massive steel pipes. Once plugged in, these robotic arms linked directly to the virtual reality systems worn by Luo Xiaoyao, Zhan Fei, and the others, enabling them to control the machinery entirely through thought.

The newly assembled robotic arms began cooperating with the ones attached to the "Hercules" aerospace plane. The vast cargo bay of the aerospace vehicle acted like a treasure chest, continuously dispensing supplies that had been thoroughly pre-planned and cataloged.

The robotic arms hoisted the equipment into designated positions, while Luo Xiaoyao and the crew handled intricate tasks that the machines could not yet perform independently.

Four hours later, a rudimentary spaceport had begun to take shape. Its scale was immense, stretching over 200 meters in length, more than 50 meters in height, and spanning hundreds of meters in width. The flat, dual-sided structure featured bustling, flexible robotic arms operating simultaneously on both its upper and lower surfaces.

Of course, this was not the final form of the spaceport, but merely its initial prototype. The supplies brought up by this "Hercules" flight had been completely exhausted, and far away in the void, another "Hercules" aerospace plane was already approaching their coordinates.

The robotic arms of the aerospace plane slowly retracted, and the safety tethers connecting the spacesuits of Luo Xiaoyao and the others reeled inward as the crew gradually returned to the interior of the craft.

Moments later, the aerospace plane powered up, drifted away, and plunged smoothly into Earth's atmosphere. Having toiled in space for four straight hours, Luo Xiaoyao, Zhan Fei, and their companions were completely exhausted and needed to return to the surface for a proper rest.

Scarcely had the first plane departed when another aerospace plane slowly approached, positioning itself to dock directly at the burgeoning spaceport skeleton.

The cargo bay doors opened wide to reveal a cavernous interior laden with diverse equipment and instruments. Simultaneously, a fresh batch of astronauts in pressurized spacesuits emerged to continue the construction of the spaceport.

Thus, one fully laden "Hercules" aerospace plane after another departed from the surface, ferrying massive quantities of supplies into orbit while wave after wave of astronauts labored in the cosmos.

Two months later, a colossal spaceport stood proudly in orbit. It featured eight terminal docks, each extending 2,000 meters in length and over 100 meters in diameter, resembling a series of immense tubular conduits.

At the heart of the spaceport lay a massive, spherical central hub more than 200 meters in diameter. Its vast interior was partitioned into individually designed compartments, each equipped with its own independent life-support system to ensure the safety of astronauts, scientists, and personnel working in space.

Each spaceport terminal was capable of docking ten aerospace planes as massive as the "Hercules." Clearly, this capacity was currently excessive, as there were nowhere near that many heavy craft in operation; the oversized design was intended to accommodate the future advancement of space technology.

Apart from the berths reserved for heavy aerospace vehicles, the majority of the terminal docks were tailored for smaller spacecraft and compact private shuttles.

Every docking bay was equipped with numerous robotic arms capable of rapidly offloading cargo from arriving vessels, swapping out depleted energy batteries, and replenishing compressed air—making for a remarkably versatile and powerful system.

Inside the central control room of the spaceport, Luo Xiaoyao and Zhan Fei monitored the entire station through their virtual reality interfaces, keeping track of remaining power reserves, orbital parameters, and velocity in real-time.

"We can finally breathe a sigh of relief. After two months of non-stop construction, the spaceport is essentially complete, and all internal functional areas have passed inspection. It's ready to be put into full operation."

Zhan Fei executed a gentle somersault. Gravity in this sector of space was negligible, making even simple flips effortless.

"Breathe a sigh of relief? We are nowhere near done yet. The Sky City project has only completed its first phase; we still have the residential, scientific research, agricultural, and industrial sectors waiting for us to build. We're going to have our hands full for at least the next year."

Luo Xiaoyao shook his head and stretched his arms, his body floating weightlessly.

"Can't you let me enjoy this moment of triumph for even a second?"

Zhan Fei grimaced. Their corporation currently boasted several hundred astronauts, batches of whom had rotated into space over the past two months to construct the port. The workload was manifold heavier than anything they had previously experienced. Yet, there was no alternative—building a sky city in space required a continuous, uninterrupted effort rather than the stop-and-start pace permitted on Earth, naturally driving up operational pressure.

"Beep, beep. The next aerospace plane is approaching. Please prepare for docking procedures."

Just as the two men were chatting idly, an alert chimed through their virtual interface, instantly snapping them back to attention as they reviewed the incoming telemetry data to check for any anomalies.

...

The large-scale construction of a spaceport by the Fuyun Group could naturally not be concealed from the eyes of the world's major powers. From the very beginning, governments across the globe had trained numerous monitoring devices on every move made by the group.

At NASA headquarters within the United States, inside a sprawling conference room, a gathering of prominent aerospace experts sat around a massive table. Projected onto the central screen was a detailed schematic of the Fuyun Group's spaceport, complete with exhaustive technical parameters.

"The Fuyun Group, a private enterprise from Huaxia, is now capable of constructing such a massive spaceport in orbit. Look at these terminal docks—they stretch over 2,000 meters in length. While some berths are clearly designed for heavy aerospace planes, an even greater number are meant for smaller craft. It can accommodate hundreds of spacecraft of varying sizes simultaneously. This is a fully realized, large-scale spaceport, laying the foundation for Huaxia's march into space and the industrialization of the cosmos."

"I believe its purpose goes far beyond merely serving as a spaceport. Look closely at this section here—it retains a very distinct expansion port, clearly designed for future scalability. I suspect the Fuyun Group intends to build an ultra-large space city, and constructing this port is merely the beginning."

US Secretary of Defense James Mattis wore a grim expression as he listened to the scientists analyze the massive facility. A profound sense of anxiety gripped him. Originally, he had come to listen to briefings regarding preparations for the upcoming return-to-the-moon initiative.

Instead, the briefing had rapidly devolved into a discussion and study of the Fuyun Group's spaceport. The more they analyzed it, the heavier every person's heart grew, as everyone realized the technological gap between the United States and Huaxia was widening rapidly.

A private company in Huaxia could pull off such an ambitious engineering feat in space to lay the groundwork for a space city, whereas the United States poured astronomical sums into its aerospace program year after year. While NASA continued to achieve exciting milestones, those achievements paled into insignificance when compared to Huaxia's strides in the cosmic arena.

To this day, the United States still lacked an aerospace plane as powerful as Huaxia's. Even with the use of reusable rockets to launch spacecraft, the costs remained exorbitant and the risks critically high.

In the year 2020 alone, due to an intensive launch schedule that required American rockets to lift off almost weekly to ferry spacecraft and supplies into orbit, the United States had already suffered three catastrophic disasters in just over nine months, resulting in the heroic deaths of more than a dozen astronauts—not to mention the staggering financial losses.

This was undeniably a crushing blow. Every astronaut was a national treasure forged through prolonged training, and public opposition was vocal. Yet, they dared not pause for a second, because Washington understood that once they stopped chasing Huaxia, the gap between the two nations would soon become unbridgeable. Moreover, the manned lunar return mission was slated to begin this very October.

"Ahem!"

James offered a slight cough, and the conference room immediately quieted down. Recognizing that he had something to say, all eyes turned toward him.

"Let's set aside the situation with Huaxia for today. We need to focus on a meticulous review of our lunar return program. I want our mission to be an absolute success, without a single flaw permitted!"