Wei Tianyang, wearing a cumberso spacesuit, followed the staff’s guidance and arrived at the launch preparation room.
Inside, four other astronauts were already on standby.
He had yet to grow accustod to the bulkiness of the spacesuit, which was heavier than a heavy-duty bulletproof vest. Although his feet were on the ground, he felt as if he were suspended in the air.
The soles of his boots were too thick, and the suit was a good six or seven sizes too large, making it impossible for him to fully bend his arms. He was like a doll with not enough joints, only able to wave his hands symbolically.
Without the support of others, Wei Tianyang nearly fell over.
Resting against the wall, he saw the other astronauts waving at him.
Since no one had yet donned their glass visors, among the four astronauts, three were foreigners.
"You’re the civilian volunteer for the spacewalk this ti?" a black astronaut said with a smile.
"Yeah, it’s bound to be pretty bumpy later, right?" Wei Tianyang said.
"If you completed all the training, this old-fashioned launch thod shouldn’t be difficult for you," the black astronaut said.
"What training? What old-fashioned launch thod...?" Wei Tianyang asked, puzzled.
"Don’t listen to his nonsense. You’re called Yishenmali, right? That’s a strange na," a white astronaut then said with a laugh.
"Let explain. Launching people into space with a rocket is the old-fashioned way, but nowadays, rocket launches are relatively cheap, safe, and even sowhat comfortable. You’ll be fine," an astronaut from the Yin Country said.
"What’s the new way like?" Wei Tianyang asked.
"At the International Space Station, they only launch the parts up with rockets, and people go up using the space elevator in the Sethiyan Federation’s Bin State," said a female astronaut with brown skin.
"A space elevator? Is there really an elevator that high?" Wei Tianyang was surprised.
"When we get up there, you’ll see it, heading in the direction of the southern hemisphere. If the orbital position is just right, you can see several black cables leading from the surface directly to the disc-shaped transfer lobby at the Lagrange Point. Then, it continues upwards to the International Space Station," the female astronaut said.
"It won’t break?" Wei Tianyang said.
"Of course not. The space station and the transfer lobby maintain the sa orbit speed as the Earth, always aligned in a straight line. The elevator’s cables are made from the most cutting-edge materials we have," she said with a smile.
"It’s very flexible, extrely so, and it can conduct heat, which takes care of high-altitude icing problems. It requires maintenance every nine months mainly to address tal fatigue," the white astronaut said.
"That’s too bad, why doesn’t Zhao Ling also build a space elevator?" Wei Tianyang said with so regret.
"That thing... is not cheap. Both constructing it and the ongoing usage costs are high and there are many technical issues involved. It’s not sothing a single country can resolve. Ah, damn international politics," an astronaut from the Yin Country said.
As they chatted idly, the final preparations for the launch were already underway.
Wei Tianyang looked at the screen inside the room, where the pristine white launch vehicle stood upright on the launch pad. Vehicles were busily moving around on the ground below, their purpose was a mystery to him, and under the launch pad, more than a dozen staff mbers were performing final checks.
Half an hour later, they rode in a specialized vehicle to the launch platform. Wei Tianyang tapped on his visor and exhaled, surprised that no mist ford on it.
"Connect to the channel. Can everyone hear ?" an astronaut from the Yin Country’s voice ca through the helt.
On the blue HUD to the left of his visor, five life signs appeared, each with a na attached.
"Connected."
"We’re ready."
"Coming in clear."
"Hello? Hello? Hello?"
"..."
The vehicle reached the launch platform and Wei Tianyang clumsily stepped out. A dozen staff mbers ca to assist them, and a shared orange work lift descended slowly. One by one, they stepped aboard.
"Open the hatch. You go in first, I’ll be second, and the civilian volunteer third," the astronaut from the Yin Country instructed.
"Who’s going to open this thing?" Wei Tianyang asked.
There was a mont of silence on the channel, followed by everyone bursting into laughter.
"If you can find the steering wheel, then you’ll be the one to drive," the white astronaut joked.
The shared lift beneath their feet shuddered and then started to rise slowly, carrying the five of them upwards. Wei Tianyang looked up through his visor, and the sun filtered through the iron frawork of the launch pad, turning the small patch of sky above into a well’s mouth. The snow-white rocket was just an arm’s length away.
Wei Tianyang’s heart felt like a hand grenade with the pin pulled, in the silent mont just before an explosion. He was incredibly nervous, more than he had ever been.
In fact, he felt helpless.
Going to space. What a rotten idea...
He had never imagined that one day he would leave Earth, flying higher than the satellites.
Even though he had tried flying, his ambition had never soared beyond reaching slightly higher than a skyscraper, let alone venturing into that breathless, profound darkness.
The small elevator carried them to the top of the rocket, the entire lower half of which was the fuel tank that would disintegrate section by section during the flight, leaving only the short segnt at the head as the astronaut’s capsule, akin to a hamster ball.
They were already high enough, with the altiter in the helt HUD showing 92 ters. Wei Tianyang looked around to see nothing but the desolate land, the low buildings of the launch center, and the solitary road leading there.
He felt there must be an issue with the altiter. The vertigo-inducing sensation made him briefly believe he was at a height of 1000 ters, but even so, he knew this was rely due to the lack of any objects of similar height for comparison, which exaggerated his sense of elevation.
The first two astronauts had already passed through the small airtight hatch. Wei Tianyang was third. On the right side of his helt’s HUD, a layout of the cabin appeared; it looked really cramped. For such a large rocket, the cabin was no bigger than a restroom.
He walked in slowly, and soone inside gave him a hand.
After finding his seat, he docked his space backpack with the slot on the seat, squeezed the handle next to the chair, and with a "kacha," he was secured in the seat.
Everybody took their seats in succession, and the electronically controlled hatch slowly closed.
"Check for the last ti, is every status indicator on the spacesuit green?" asked an astronaut from Yin Country.
"Green."
"No problem."
"Check complete."
"Everything’s normal."
From that mont, everyone’s spacesuits unlocked their space mode, vital sign monitoring and temperature regulation functions turned on, and the central air conditioning and liquid circulation systems inside the suits activated as well. Over the next 37 hours, they wouldn’t be able to remove them.
After the hatch closed, the cabin darkened montarily, only the blue HUDs on everyone’s helts glowing. Then, the lights inside the cabin ca on. Wei Tianyang saw the iron walls encasing them and a small, round porthole. Outside was the monotonous blue sky.
"Entering countdown to launch," a female voice ca from the broadcast, followed by the countdown.
This tension made Wei Tianyang sowhat uneasy.
The Caucasian astronaut was murmuring sothing under his breath; Wei Tianyang caught the na Rada Gan, while the other three seed quite silent.
"3... 2..."
"Ignition..."
The rocket vibrated as a frantic noise erged from below. Despite being surrounded by several centiters of iron walls and the noise-canceling helt, the racket still made Wei Tianyang tense.
He felt as if he were sitting atop a missile...
Suddenly, a trendous force pressed him into the seat, the vibration intensifying. His eyes flashed red, and the black corners of his forehead protruded slightly, pressing against the glass visor.
"We’re taking off... Feel this vibration!" exclaid the astronaut from Yin Country, his voice trembling.
Everyone donned masks of agony, their bodies pressed firmly into their seats.
Wei Tianyang’s body shook; he felt his right arm twitching.
It was an instinctive reaction to danger; he had to control it... damaging the spacesuit would be a disaster...
Wei Tianyang tried to distract himself, to calm his body down. He turned his head with difficulty to glance at the small porthole. The color of the sky shifted from light to dark. He breathed deeply, his head aching, feeling as if his brain was being churned inside his skull.
In an instant, the vibrations ceased.
The sky outside the porthole turned black.
"Huff... huff... we’ve entered," said the Caucasian astronaut.
Instinctively, Wei Tianyang reached out to wipe sweat from his brow but hit the glass visor.
He looked at the Caucasian astronaut and asked, "Entered where?"
The Caucasian astronaut smiled and looked to his side.
Wei Tianyang turned his head to look. The porthole offered a view split between the black sky and the blue earth. He longed to move closer, but his suit was still fixed to the seat.
Just one glance was all it took, and he was captivated by the mysterious, vast, and majestic vista.
Clouds gathered above the blue and brown earth, slowly drifting by. The sunlight haloed the curvature of the planet. All was quiet, save for the ticking of the readings in the rocket cabin.
The communication channel was silent; everyone just quietly watched the outside.
Wei Tianyang understood.
They had entered.
That was the cosmos.
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