Chapter 61: The Unwritten Rules of the Spacecraft Design Competition

"Let's take a step back, then. What if we burn fifty million right now, buy two Atlas rockets from Convair, and then perform an orbital docking?"

Lin Ran used his hands to simulate a spacecraft, bringing them together in mid-air.

"Look, the spacecraft completes the docking in mid-air. No matter what the plan is, as long as we want to go to the moon, orbital docking is unavoidable. If we can take the lead in this technology, as long as NASA doesn't reinvent the wheel, they will absolutely not be able to bypass us."

John Morgan said, "Brother, you'd better think of something else. The Atlas rocket originates from the SM-65 Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile, deployed by the Air Force a few years ago. Based on what I know, a single unit costs around five million dollars, and if sold, it would be at least eight million. Besides, we simply can't buy it. Even though it's manufactured by Convair, the ownership and usage rights of such strategic weapons are entirely in the hands of the federal government. So forget about it, and let's focus on getting an order from NASA first."

......

During this period, Lin Ran ran to General Aerospace every few days. The proposal was about to be submitted to NASA, and it would be a joke if they didn't even pass the first round.

In the process, Lin Ran met Jim, an engineer whom John Morgan had poached from Glenn L. Martin Company—to be precise, the chief engineer, Jim Chamberlin.

This man was also a well-known figure; he was Canadian. In February 1959, Canada suddenly announced the cancellation of the Arrow rocket program, a news item that caused 14,000 employees at aerospace plants near Toronto, Ontario, to lose their jobs, and also led to the departure of CF-105 fighter jet chief aerodynamics expert Jim Chamberlin.

He initially worked at Glenn Martin. After Glenn Martin's proposal was rejected, he joined NASA, becoming the chief engineer for the manned spaceflight programs Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo, and was regarded by Canadians as a symbol of brain drain to America.

Because of Lin Ran's appearance and the spin-off of General Aerospace, Jim's destiny took a turn here; he was poached by John Morgan from Glenn Martin to be the chief engineer at General Aerospace.

"Randolph, why would you think about adding 13 tons of liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen propellant and three LR-115 engines, and transforming the lifting body design into a blunt-body reentry design?" Since Lin Ran had finally come to the company, Jim seized every opportunity to communicate with him.

Previously, when Lin Ran was in Hong Kong, they could only communicate remotely, which was extremely inefficient, and many of his doubts could not be fully resolved.

Jim Chamberlin's view of Lin Ran had also undergone a transformation from scrutiny to admiration.

At first, he thought that as a master of mathematics, the other party might only be able to offer suggestions from a mathematical perspective, and he couldn't quite understand why his fellow engineer colleagues worshipped Lin Ran so much. In this era, making white engineers admire you was no easy task.

Later, with remote communication and project advancement, he was genuinely convinced. The other party was indeed far superior to him. This superiority wasn't about any single point, but rather the overall grasp of the big picture.

Compared to what he had initially envisioned, the current proposal was comprehensively ahead at a single glance, and even the aesthetic appeal of the design blueprints was superior.

Lin Ran explained, "What we are doing is a lunar landing mission, not a lunar orbital flight mission. The entire spacecraft needs to land on the lunar surface, so the added 13 tons of liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen propellant and the three LR-115 engines provide the descent capability. We don't choose a lifting body design because such a design requires too many control processes. Too many control processes mean increased links, and increased links mean risk. We need to be as simple as possible, reducing technical difficulty rather than increasing it. The design here helps the landing module withstand the impact of the lunar landing, including strengthening the structures of both the command module and the service module. The entire mission process shifts from simple orbital maneuvering to a complex descent and potential ascent phase. Under such circumstances, you have to consider both descent and ascent simultaneously; using a lifting body design is not only more complex, but also heavier, requiring a rocket with greater thrust. This is also a potential point of failure."

Lin Ran looked straight into Jim's eyes, his gaze sharp and full of confidence in what he was saying.

How could he not be confident? After all, he was immensely familiar with the Apollo program. He had read countless historical documents, just short of participating in person.

"Even if we pass the preliminary review, subsequent optimizations will require considering propellant allocation to balance the thrust demands of the descent and ascent phases."

"The variation here is to make the reentry of the T-410 moderately controllable. You see, the reason we are adding four aluminum alloy control flaps here, along with a composite heat shield made of ablative materials and high-temperature alloys, is to ensure that the solar panels are not exposed and can continue to power the spacecraft in space."

"Pair these electronic devices with the propulsion module. In addition to the electronics of the lunar manned spacecraft, we also need to equip it with engines and liquid fuel, ensuring that the lower stage connected to the rocket adapter ring is used during the T-410's transit to the moon."

These are enough to allow it to truly land on the moon.

Jim looked at Lin Ran with an expression of deep admiration. Lin Ran, however, thought to himself that none of this was truly important; what mattered was gaining the approval of Maxime Faget, the chief designer of NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center.

Judging from the declassified historical documents of the Apollo moon landing, the implicit rule of any spacecraft design competition was that Maxime Faget got whatever Maxime Faget wanted. Maxime Faget held NASA's implicit veto power.

Apart from that, nothing else mattered.

......

John F. Kennedy won the election on November 8, 1960. After winning, he delivered a speech.

That Christmas, Professor Horkheimer returned to Germany for the holidays, while John Morgan spent the New Year with his family at their family villa.

Huang Yunji, the editor-in-chief of the Chinese American Daily, knowing that Lin Ran was all alone, warmly invited him to spend the New Year at his home, mentioning that he was also by himself.

Unfortunately, NASA's preliminary bidding review had already concluded, General Aerospace had advanced to the finals, and Lin Ran had also undergone the first round of investigation by federal authorities.

It was an open first round, and after the investigation concluded, they explicitly told him that any future trips abroad by him must be communicated to them in advance.

To avoid bringing trouble to Huang Yunji, Lin Ran politely declined, especially since the other party's identity and workplace were extremely sensitive.

He had originally planned to go to New York's Times Square, preparing to spend Christmas and the final day of 1960 there—just like when he first arrived, standing in the center of Times Square, witnessing the neon ball marked with the numbers 1961, and coincidentally having countless doors near Times Square.

He simply hadn't expected Fred to invite him to his home for Christmas. Lin Ran felt it was simply fascinating.