What mattered was that it was right there

After the meeting ended, the Rosy Glow spaceplane project was officially approved, with Hou Guang still in charge.

Days passed, and soon it was late January.

After a long wait, the Science and Industry Bureau, the Space Administration, and several other agencies jointly announced the winning bids for the manned Moon Landing Program on their official websites.

There was no suspense. As the first craft to achieve a payload capacity of fifty tons to low Earth orbit, the Auspicious won the competition outright, securing the most critical contract in the entire manned lunar landing project—the launch vehicle.

By this point, the wager no longer mattered.

After seeing the Auspicious's outstanding performance, anyone with a normal level of intelligence would surely make the right choice.

The arrival of ten billion in funding quickly resolved Starry Sky Technology's immediate financial difficulties.

Under its agreement with Ali Group, Starry Sky Technology repaid all its corporate loans and began using the remaining funds to make final preparations for the upcoming manned Moon Landing Program.

Contracts for the lunar module, command module, service module, extravehicular spacesuits, lunar rover, lunar communications satellites, and other essential components of the lunar landing project went to more than a dozen aerospace companies, including Aerospace Science Group.

Many of these projects had already been completed. For instance, Aerospace Science Group, with its formidable resources, had displayed prototypes of the crucial command and lunar modules as early as last December.

As soon as a high-thrust rocket capable of delivering more than twenty-four tons to an Earth-Moon transfer orbit was ready, the entire lunar landing project could begin at any time.

Judging by the Auspicious's current payload capacity, it had undoubtedly already met that requirement.

After discussions between senior leadership and the various departments, the manned Moon Landing Program was finally scheduled