<strong>Chapter 315 Return To The Space Center</strong>


    The Jeep came to a halt, stalling after circling the area halfway. It wasn’t because they had managed to find the other two, but the sandstorm was so severe that the dust and debris soon overwhelmed the intake, clogging it up. At first, the engine seemed underpowered, and the vehicle struggled to move. Not too long after, the engine sputtered before dyingpletely. In this case, it was impossible to start the engine again. Things didn’t go well for the second Jeep too. It was just the matter of which one would stop functioning first. Left with no other option, NASA had to give up on searching for the other yers and hunkered down in the vehicle until the storm passed. It was then that a small ident urred. A flying stone hit the right passenger window and shattered a hole through it. Everyone scurried to block the crack withyers of clothes to prevent sand from flying into the car.


    However, nobody expected the sandstorm tost an entire day and night. Hours upon hours passed, and when the wind started to die down, they could finally exit the car. Seeing how it was buried halfway in the sand, those in the car wouldn’t survive if the sandstormsted any longer, let alone thosepletely exposed to the elements. Under such an unforgiving environment, it would be almost impossible for missing people to survive.


    Even so, the captain chose to contact Area 51 immediately the moment the winds died down a little. He also requested a second rescue party to be sent out to search for the two trainees that NASA lost in the sandstorm.


    Before they moved on, the captain sent Zhang Heng back to Kennedy Space Center as he was due for a one-week quarantine before he could get on the rocket. It was essential that he stayed away from his family and colleagues to avoid catching any viruses, colds, or anymon diseases.


    During this time, and unless absolutely necessary, only staff screened by the medical team could get close to the quarantined astronaut. Considering the odd virus and floating particles in the air, the astronaut wasn’t allowed to leave the istion chamber either. If their spouse or child came for a visit, they had to first undergo a stringent medical examination. NASA even restricted the duration of their stay.


    This would ensure the wellness of the astronauts’ health could be monitored to the greatest extent. Of course, all the trouble they went through wasn’t for nothing. NASA couldn’t afford to have the astronauts miss theunch window or postponing the mission because of a runny nose. Thankfully, this problem didn’t exist the moment the spacecraft entered orbit. No bacteria or any infectious viruses were in the vacuum of space, and it was rare that astronauts got sick while they were there.


    Due to the mysterious infectious disease that ravaged the base, NASA paid particr attention to the quarantine process. Thanks to the unexpected sandstorm, Zhang Heng was quarantined a day less than initially nned. After the medical team conducted aprehensive physical examination, confirming him in perfect health, NASA’s executives couldn’t be more relieved.


    No one had expected things to move in this direction. Armstrong and Collins’ surprising return gave NASA a much-needed boost and even restored Congress’ confidence in the moonnding. NASA was inplete shock after seeing how idents strangely kept happening to this batch of urgently recruited candidates. In the end, only one of the seven survived.


    Fortunately, NASA eventually pulled together enough astronauts for the mission. That said, Zhang Heng, who survived, had the best training performance out of the seven, and although not the oue that NASA had hoped for, they were content with who they got in the end. The selection process had unexpectedly turned into an elimination round. Thus, the final candidate was now set in stone.


    Zhang Heng had to spend the next four days in the istion room.


    After entering the quarantine period, the astronauts would no longer be assigned any tasks or training. Of course, a good amount of everyday exercise was mandatory to ensure the astronaut was in the best of health. The astronauts could also use this time to adjust their sleeping patterns to adapt to the work schedule in space. In terms of diet, NASA no longer set any restrictions. In theory, astronauts could request whatever they wanted from the dietician. They were even allowed rtively high-calorie ‘junk food’ because space food could never bepared to the delicacies on earth. Whatever they could eat on earth now was considered aspensation for whatever the astronauts would miss out while in space.


    Of course, this should be in no waypared to the infamous st meal’ of death row inmates.


    After all, it was only eight years since Gagarin entered space for the first time, and now, humankind once again challenged themselves tond on another celestial object. For the Apollo 11 mission team, it was an opportunity to create history. A venture of such great heights, though, didn’te without an equal cost, one that was marred by extremely high risks.


    Let alone returning the crew sessfully, the entire undertaking was more of a shot in the dark, pun not intended. Despite all the years and hours of ridiculouslyplicated calctions done by teams of brilliant astrophysicists, no one really knew what would happen the moment the rocket took-off or if the spacecraft could even enter lunar orbit. They also had no idea if the lunar module wouldnd safely on the moon, or if it would evennd at all.


    Although the process had been simted thousands of times in theboratory, nobody could predict what could happen hundreds of thousands of miles away on an alien world. After all, even insurancepanies were unwilling to draft up policies for astronauts. Despite the morous title, the guarantee that their families would bepensated in the event of their death was now further away from earth than they could imagine.


    For this reason, Armstrong and a few came up with a unique way of insuring themselves. They left hundreds of envelopes with their autographs and souvenirs rted to the mission and gave them to their wives, rtives, and friends before they set off. If an ident did, god forbid, happen, these signatures would be theirst gift to humanity. In other words, their autographs would hold considerable value, and the money from selling the envelope alone should help secure the future of their respective families.


    Armstrong also suggested Zhang Heng do the same, to which he declined. After all, there was nobody for him to miss in the 1960’s United States. All his kin lived outside the game. Nheless, Zhang Heng still helped up Armstrong and Collins by signing a couple of envelopes, even taking a photo with them as well. These items could probably sell for good money when they were no longer alive.


    Zhang Heng never thought that doing all these before the mission even began was pessimistic or somewhat of a bad omen. It was all standard practice to n ahead in the event of failure. After all, even the White House would have already prepared a eulogy for them. Once the moonnding failed, newly elected President Nixon would broadcast it to all Americans.


    While expressing his condolences, he wouldmend them for their courage and fearlessness. It would undoubtedly help with damage control, minimizing the moonnding failure’s fallout amongst the public.


    But none of these things concerned Zhang Heng, and instead, he used the rare peace and quiet before the departure to check his recent yield. After killing Jia Lai, he received a reward of 20 game points. He got three game items in total: a wooden whistle, a lens, and a marble. Zhang Heng guessed that the lens should be rted to Jia Lai’s ability to maintain his vision in the sandstorm.


    As for the whistle and the marble, it was difficult to identify their functions, judging by their appearance. Coupled with the fork and teeth he got from Bruno, it was safe to say that Zhang Heng got five items in this round of the game. Game items were his high return behind the high risks he faced.


    However, he cared more about the little gift from the Area 51 engineer called Einstein. Even though he knew that it was no game item, Zhang Heng could no longer look away from it the moment he opened the box. In it was a truly wireless Bluetooth headset; a pair of Apple AirPods.