When the victorious announcement—"Cargo bay deployment successful"—traveled hundreds of thousands of kilometers to the ground command center, deafening cheers erupted from the command tower.
People embraced one another and exchanged high-fives, celebrating this hard-won victory.
Standing before the control console, Director Li of the Science and Industry Bureau swallowed slightly. At some point, tears had already filled his deeply wrinkled face.
"We succeeded..."
On the giant screen ahead, the silver-white core module of the Moon Palace spacecraft floated steadily above the Moon, while the distance between it and the Auspicious gradually increased.
Watching the thrilling scene on the screen as well, Lu Zhou wore a relieved smile. His shoulders, which had been tense for so long that they had begun to stiffen, finally relaxed. He nodded and said,
"Yes... we succeeded!"
From this day onward, the Moon Palace spacecraft would serve as Hua Nation's foothold on the Moon. Hua Nation's spacecraft and space engineering equipment would continue pushing deeper into lunar space, spreading across Lunar Orbit and the lunar surface in the near future...
Reporters from major media outlets were invited into a dedicated conference room, where spokespersons sent by the Science and Industry Bureau, along with specialists from participating companies such as Aerospace Science Group and Starry Sky Technology, answered their questions.
Meanwhile, the work inside the launch tower did not stop.
Although the Auspicious's mission had ended, the work of the ground command center staff had only just begun.
The Auspicious's return navigation and the remote control of the Moon Palace space station all had to be handled by ground command personnel.
After staying in the command tower for a while, Lu Zhou decided not to disturb their work any further and left the ground command center.
As he crossed the launch runway toward the entrance of the