Chapter 86: The Dawn of the Space Race

Part One of Three

Farewell is always in October; memories are the sorrow of longing.

As graduation drew near, there was always far too much parting grief. With time flowing on and the years hurrying past, one could see everywhere across the campus of Yanhuang University the final-year students shedding tears and speaking of separation.

Li Fu was no exception. After easily completing his thesis defense, he did not immediately return to Jiangnan Province. There were still many events to attend at school, and the countless farewell gatherings were, of course, unavoidable. As for the various invitations from society to attend this or that event, Li Fu turned them all down without exception.

By now Li Fu held too many titles and his fame was too great. If he were to start attending public events, then once he opened that door, invitations of every sort would come flooding in without end. So from the very beginning, he had no intention of accepting any invitation at all.

Just as Li Fu was immersed in the melancholy of parting from college life, the appearance of this young man had already changed the world in subtle ways. Because of Li Fu, China had surged ahead of the world and grasped plasma propulsion in advance, bringing the aerospace fighter into reality.

Unlike the past, when things were often hidden behind layers of concealment and truth and falsehood were mixed together to mislead the public, this time China made a highly public announcement that it had taken the lead in developing the Sky Arrow aerospace fighter. The news broadcast spent more than ten full minutes in detailed coverage of the fighter's development, performance, strategic significance, and more.

An aerospace fighter capable of taking off directly from the ground and entering space, and able to easily break through ten times the speed of sound, was worthy of being called a nation-protecting divine weapon. China took the opportunity to revise its original space development plan.

It proposed to perfect its own space station within one year, surpassing the international station jointly built and managed by the Western nations led by the American hegemon. It would also construct even larger space factories and space cities, complete the Seven Star navigation system within a year, and upgrade its original navigation network, which had only covered parts of China, into a true global positioning system that could cover the entire world.

It further announced plans to launch an unmanned spacecraft for a lunar landing within the year, to conduct a manned moon mission the next day, to build a permanent lunar base on the moon, maintain a long-term staffed presence there, and carry out lunar mining, while simultaneously sending an unmanned probe to Mars.

Once the official news from China was released, the entire nation erupted in joy. Countless citizens cheered with delight. Whether online or in casual conversation, people were filled with incomparable pride in the strength of their motherland.

A China growing stronger by the day, a China rising comprehensively before the world, needed such news to rally the fragile hearts of its people. We once led the world for thousands of years; a brief period of lagging behind can only inspire us to press forward, surpass ourselves, and return the center of the world to the East in time to come.

China's powerful rise in aviation and aerospace, together with its vast and magnificent space program, greatly uplifted the nation and forged an unprecedented unity. Former doubts were replaced by all manner of praise, and reports about space technology, about manned lunar landings, and many other topics emerged one after another. Even the elderly were given a lesson in popular science, learning that the moon is Earth's satellite and that there is no fairy on it, nor her little moon rabbit.

While China was celebrating across the nation, the rest of the world fell into silence. After the major powers confirmed that China had indeed been the first to develop the aerospace fighter, their own outlook darkened. And when China's grand space plan was unveiled, the whole world was thrown into an uproar.

Part Two of Three

The Yamatoland Daily even ran extensive, detailed coverage for half a month straight on the particulars and content of China's various space programs, with headlines such as: "China rises powerfully in the space race, seeking to monopolize the moon," "China plans manned lunar missions next year and permanent bases, with long-term personnel and early seizure of lunar resources," "A dragon has leapt up beside us; in dealing with dragons, perhaps we should once again humbly become students"...

Ever since defeating China in the war a century ago, the island nation had always carried itself with pride in China’s presence. But now, with China's vast and grand space plan unveiled, and with China’s national power having grown steadily stronger over the years, fear and unease filled the hearts of the island nation’s people.

The two countries were, in truth, bound by a blood feud. The endless flood of war dramas in China each year was proof enough of that. The Chinese have not forgotten the wounds of the past.

Space is humanity's future; this has become a common understanding among nations across the globe. The rich resources on the moon have also made every country salivate with desire. More importantly, the moon is a land without an owner: whoever claims it first, owns it.

Long constrained by resources and dissatisfied with its small territory, the island nation naturally had many designs on the moon. Now, stirred by China's massive space program, it quickly unveiled an equally ambitious plan of its own.

Over the next ten years, the island nation planned to invest as much as two trillion dollars in aerospace, aiming to achieve manned spaceflight with its own technology by next year and send a probe to the moon. Within five years, it hoped to have its own space station, and within ten years to complete a manned lunar landing.

In the past, the island nation had always been a second-tier power in aerospace, mainly relying on the American hegemon, mingling among the Western nations, and taking part in many affairs of the international station, with no real intention of developing an independent space program.

But now, provoked by China, it intended to rely on its formidable economic and technological strength to develop its aerospace industry independently and autonomously, achieving manned spaceflight on its own, building its own station, and landing on the moon to seize resources within ten years, along with a whole series of massive space ambitions.

Of course, the one most profoundly shaken was not the island nation, but the American hegemon across the ocean. As the world's sole superpower, the hegemon was number one in every field. For years it had spared no effort in suppressing China, pressuring it by rallying neighboring countries, imposing technological blockades, politically isolating it, and deploying every means imaginable, both aboveboard and underhanded.

But now China had actually taken the lead in developing the aerospace fighter and had put forward a grand space plan. The hegemon simply could not accept being left behind in advanced technology.

The New York Times, in an exceptionally rare move, ran banner headlines for more than a month, extensively and meticulously reporting on everything about China—from China's five-thousand-year history to its present sweeping space plan. Headlines such as "China rises strongly, seeking to ignite a space race," "China prepares to achieve a manned lunar landing next year and establish a moon base; what is our government doing? Still mired in the Middle Eastern quagmire," and "China's rise is a factor of global instability" appeared one after another.

From these headlines, one could fully discern the fears hidden within the heart of the hegemon. Its people even held massive demonstrations, with countless protesters gathering at the gates of the White House to question the government's inaction, unable to accept that China might surpass them in the field of aerospace.

Under tremendous pressure, the hegemon soon produced its own massive new space plan, known as the "Return to the Moon" program. This plan proposed investing more than five trillion dollars in aerospace over the next decade, returning to the moon before the year 2020, and likewise building a permanent lunar base. It even aimed to establish lunar factories and begin lunar mining.

Part Three of Three

The hegemon could not accept being behind others, and it could not accept China freely seizing resources on the moon. The vast riches of the moon were something the hegemon, having once landed there, knew all too well. Whoever claimed more lunar resources would possess greater leverage in the future.

Besides the hegemon and the island nation, the polar bear state, long a major aerospace power, was naturally deeply provoked as well. Though its own economy survived by selling resources, and though it had long been living off its accumulated strength, it too understood the importance of space, and even more so, the importance of the moon.

Grinding its teeth, the polar bear state also unveiled a grand space plan, named the Korolev Program. The name was chosen to commemorate the scientist who had overseen the lunar program in the days of the former great bear. In the space race of the last century, the hegemon had successfully landed on the moon.

But the former great bear ended in failure. Now that this plan was brought forward once again, there was no doubt that the polar bear state intended to carry out another manned lunar landing. It planned to invest more than one trillion dollars in aerospace over the next ten years, accomplish the manned moon landing that the former great bear had never achieved, and also build a permanent lunar base and seize lunar resources.

The European Union, centered around the island kingdom, the rooster nation, and Germany, was naturally unwilling to be outdone. They joined forces and jointly drafted a plan named "Athena." The heart of the plan likewise revolved around manned lunar landings and the construction of a permanent lunar base, with a projected investment of as much as five trillion dollars over the next decade.

It sought not only to free the European Union from the hegemon's influence, but also to build its own independent space station, achieve manned lunar landings on its own, establish a permanent base on the moon, mine lunar resources, and carry out a whole series of grand space projects.

Beyond these powerful and domineering nations, the South Asian giant, ever fond of cheating and taking shortcuts, naturally refused to be left behind. It produced a massive space plan of its own, aiming within ten years to have its own space station, achieve manned lunar landings, establish a permanent lunar base and lunar factories, and so on. In terms of budget, it too refused to show weakness, preparing to pour in more than one trillion dollars.

The southern peninsula nation, which had always regarded the universe as belonging to itself, naturally stretched out its neck and wanted to join the rush into space as well. It actually proposed to develop its own space technology within the next ten years and achieve manned spaceflight, and so on.

Of course, countries such as the land of the desert star, the southern giant, and the archipelago nation were all deeply stirred by the space plans of one nation after another. Whether or not they had the conditions or strength, they too successively put forward corresponding plans. In an instant, a visible space race across the entire planet had begun.

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