"O'Keeffe doesn't agree to change any plans at all. Our astronauts are likely to encounter accidents during the return to the atmosphere." Hal looked at the people present: "Now, what should we do?"

   "Hmph, this flight was rushed, and such an accident is possible. Maybe that fellow Max is right again!"

   "Yes, there may be accidents, but think about it, if there is an accident and our astronauts die without warning during the return process, or know the problem, but can't solve the problem, and finally stay in orbit and wait for death?" Jon Harperd, the commander-in-chief of the flight mission, said.

   "They don't have to wait to die, they can completely dock to the International Space Station."

   "But the materials on the International Space Station are not enough for them to consume. We don't have a new plan to launch rockets to replenish materials, let alone Da Mao's side."

   "Starship Corporation, they are ready."

   "What are you thinking? We just sanctioned the starship company and refused to have any cooperation with them in the aerospace field, but now we ask them to help us transport supplies?"

   "That's better than killing our astronauts."

   "Accidents are only possible, but not inevitable. Do we have to ask Max for a possible incident? No, we absolutely can't do that!" Harperd shook his head.

   "Harperd, you are not an amateur like O'Keeffe, don't you know that for us astronauts, no matter what is possible, we have to treat it as if it will happen?"

   "That was in the past. Now, we can't take care of that much anymore. What we have to do is to defeat the starship company, otherwise we NASA will never be able to hold our heads up again!"

   "Is our face important, or the safety of astronauts?"

   "Face."

   Hal was disappointed that he didn't participate in the discussion of the people present, and his hand reached for the briefcase, where there was a recording device. Recently, he has recorded everything that should be recorded, and he is very worried that if something happens, he will be pushed out to top the bag.

  He won't take the blame!

  The seven-day flight was finally over, and everyone on the space shuttle felt very relaxed.

   "We will go home soon." Commander Rick Harzband said: "Everyone's space travel is coming to an end. Next, what do you want to do?"

   "I will also participate in the next training to prepare for the next time I enter space."

   "It's enough to come here once. After I go back, I want to continue my original life."

   There is a cheerful atmosphere in the cabin.

  After Max made the prediction, they were very entangled, but the last space opportunity was too rare, so they did not refuse and participated in this mission.

  When they took off, they were a little worried, but the situation went well. Until now, they are going back, and they are even more relaxed.

  Nine o'clock in the morning.

   "Columbia has been ordered to de-orbit!" Harzband was talking to the ground while giving instructions to the assistant next to him.

  The space shuttle turned around in space, with the tail forward, and the engine ignited. Under the reaction force, the space shuttle began to decelerate, and the earth was pulled by the earth's gravity.

  The height gradually decreases.

   "Shut down engine. Adjust attitude!"

  The actions are being carried out correctly, most of which are automatic. They only need to stare at the screen in front of them and be ready to take over when an accident occurs.

   Ten minutes, twenty minutes, half an hour passed.

   "We are about to enter the atmosphere, pay attention to attitude adjustment!"

  The space shuttle uses its belly to contact the atmosphere, so when it enters the atmosphere, it flies at an elevation angle of 40 degrees, which allows the insulation tiles on the belly of the aircraft to contact the air and withstand the heat generated by friction.

   "At an altitude of 130 kilometers, we are currently over the Pacific Ocean!"

   "The altitude is one hundred and twenty kilometers!"

   "The height is one hundred and one!"

  9:46 minutes, the altitude is 102 kilometers above the ground.

   "Columbia called Houston, everything is normal now, we will land in half an hour."

   This is the benefit of the space shuttle, they can glide in the atmosphere, from the Pacific Ocean to the sky over the United States, through California and other states, and finally land at the airport in Florida.

   "Houston received, everything is normal, you will arrive in the sky over California in three minutes."

  9:52, Houston Ground Mission Control.

   "Shuttle left gear temperature is rising!"

   "Really? How could this be? Could it be that the sensor is broken?"

   "Probably not, there are three sensors inside that are increasing the temperature, oh god, there is another one, and the temperature of the fourth one is increasing faster."

  O’Keeffe also received this report, and he looked at the data above: “It’s only increased by 15 degrees, what’s so scary, continue to land according to the original plan!”

   O'Keeffe, a layman, didn't know what this meant.

   "The temperature of the entire fuselage is rising!"

   "Don't panic, is there a way to fix this now?"

  O’Keeffe’s question is correct. Even if the big guys are frightened by this incident, it doesn’t make any sense, because they have no way to deal with it. Terminate the landing? Eject the astronauts out? There is no such function at all!

   "Columbia flew over the Nevada desert!"

   "Come back, kids, you'll be all right," O'Keeffe murmured.

   "Currently scrapped over southern Arizona!"

   "Flying to New Mexico!"

   "Look, isn't this coming soon?" O'Keeffe was very calm, at this moment, someone shouted: "The space shuttle suddenly yawed to the left!"

   "The data connection with the temperature sensor has been lost!"

   "Houston calling Columbia, Houston calling Columbia, you are off course! Please correct the course manually."

   "Columbia reports that the space shuttle is rolling. We have turned on the trim roll stabilizer, but we still cannot control the space shuttle roll. We are trying to activate the yaw jet thruster..."

  There is no sound on the radio, only a brief noise.

   "Houston calls Columbia! Houston calls Columbia!" This side is completely anxious.

   "Radar has failed to capture the Columbia." A staff member reported: "I'm afraid..."

   "No, no fear, no if!" O'Keeffe was anxious: "This is just a disturbance, Riling disturbance!"

  O'Keeffe was still forcing his position, but at this time, in New Mexico, some people had already looked up and looked at the beautiful fireworks in the sky in amazement, and even a reporter picked up a camera and took a wonderful shot.

   At this time, they didn't know that the Columbia exploded, and the blood of the seven astronauts had already spilled into the sky.

   When the news reached O'Keeffe's desk, he was completely dumbfounded.

  The space shuttle had already entered the atmosphere, and it was even about to land, but it exploded in the air before landing!

how so? Is it really the same as what Max said?

   No, this is definitely not true!

  O'Keeffe's face was extremely ugly, and his mind was in a mess.

   Bang!

   "Damn it!" Someone cursed: "Treat the space mission like a joke, without careful planning, without meticulous inspection, relying on administrative orders instead of scientific arrangements! This tragedy is obviously a personal disaster!"

   "That's right, if you listen to Max and stop this risky launch, there won't be such an accident!"

   The big guys already complained, their normal work was interrupted, and the endless overtime made them anxious. If this task was successful, they might accept it. After all, the joy of success would dilute their fatigue, but now it failed! Failed at the most critical time, of course they blamed the leader for this failure.

  When these words reached O'Keeffe's ears, the remaining rationality told him that he must come up with a solution as soon as possible. He suffered such a heavy loss just after taking office, what should he do?

  His eyes looked at everyone's figure, and then fixed on Wayne Hal. Obviously, he is the most suitable scapegoat!

   "Hal, what the **** is going on?" O'Keeffe asked. "You **** bastard, you screwed up what should have been a perfect launch for us!"

  Wayne Hal felt a sense of sadness in his heart, feeling worthless for those dead astronauts. Now, the most terrible accident happened, and the leader of NASA did not immediately investigate the real cause of the accident, but began to quickly find a scapegoat to shirk responsibility!

   Is such a NASA worth his nostalgia?

   "This matter has nothing to do with us, it's clearly..." A technician opened his mouth to defend himself, but met O'Keeffe's cold gaze, his heart shivered, and the second half of the words were swallowed back into his stomach.

   "Why, it's not our fault, whose fault is that?" O'Keeffe asked.

   "Yes, yes, it's the damned Max!" The technician said: "It's all his curse! Our space shuttle is operating normally, and it is because of his curse that it caused our space shuttle to crash. He is fully responsible!"

  Okay, if the curse can destroy the space shuttle, then their entire NASA will probably be destroyed by the curse, right? Hal thought with some disdain.

   "Yes, very likely!" O'Keeffe said.

  After learning the news that the space shuttle exploded in mid-air, NASA fell into chaos. For a long time, no one thought of investigating the truth of the accident.

   "Hal, you are the flight director, now, it's up to you to deal with those **** reporters." O'Keeffe immediately assigned the most difficult job to Hal.

  Hal's face was pale, how could he explain to the reporters at this time? As long as you say a wrong sentence, you may be dealt with to calm your anger. This O'Keeffe just wants to cheat himself.

   "Why, why don't you go?"

   "Okay, I'll go." Hal walked out.

  A large group of reporters had already been waiting outside, and when they saw Hal coming out, they all rushed forward.

   "Mr. Hal, what happened to this accident?"

   "Is someone deliberately sabotaging it? Before the launch, Max had predicted that this operation would have a high probability of failure."

   "Mr. Hal, is NASA going downhill?"

   Questions were called out one after another. When hearing the last question, Hal nodded: "Yes, NASA is indeed going downhill. We were able to set foot on the moon thirty years ago, but now, we don't even have the ability to safely bring astronauts back."

   "Hal, what are you talking about?" O'Keeffe was still listening behind, when Hal said this, he rushed out immediately: "Are you trying to discredit NASA? Get out!"

  "My friends from the press, this accident is not what we want to see. In fact, the entire space program is close to success. We have completed the launch of the space shuttle Columbia. Our crew spent seven unforgettable days in space. During the return process, they can already see the landing runway, but at the last moment, there was a small problem." O'Keeffe said: "Our NASA is still the largest space agency in the world. We are here to strongly condemn Max. He cursed us from the beginning..."

   Just as O'Keeffe was giving a speech, Hal quietly withdrew from the crowd, instead of going back, he walked outside.

  A reporter squeezed out from the crowd. He keenly felt that if he couldn't get breaking news from O'Keeffe, this Hal must have more secrets in his hands.

   "Mr. Hal, Mr. Hal, you are in a bad mood now, how about we have a drink together?"

  Looking at the press card on the other party's chest, Hal nodded: "Okay, I happen to have some things that need to be handed over to the media, but after I leave this ghost place safely."

   After dealing with a large group of reporters, O'Keeffe rushed to the White House again.

   "O'Keeffe, what did you do, the impact this time is very bad!" The superior's eyes were serious: "Someone must be responsible for this incident!"

  "The main person responsible for this accident is the flight director Wayne Hal. He did not do a good job in safety, which led to this accident. You should know that I don't know aerospace. After I went to NASA, Hal suggested to me that I could launch the Columbia space shuttle to boost morale. He also patted his chest and assured me that this was a good opportunity to boost morale, so I agreed. If I knew there would be risks, how could I agree to launch the space shuttle in such a short period of time."

   "Investigate the cause of the accident immediately, and evaluate whether the remaining three space shuttles can still fly. If they can't fly, what will our future manned spaceflight depend on?"

  After the moon landing, the United States began to develop the space shuttle, using it as the only manned space vehicle. Now, two of the five have been blown up, and the cost of use is getting higher and higher. They have to consider the next thing.

  If there is no tool for manned spaceflight, what will happen to the International Space Station in the future? Do you have to completely rely on Da Mao? Da Mao is not easy to get along with. If they don't have manned spaceflight tools, they will definitely be slaughtered by Da Mao in the future.

  The people in the White House still have vision, seeing farther than O'Keefe, and O'Keeffe also reacted: Yes, this is really a big problem. If the space shuttle can't fly, what should we do next?

  Max said that he is willing to provide services at half price, but they have already broken their skin with Starship, so how can they do such a thing?

  Everyone continued to discuss. Originally, O'Keeffe was supposed to be the protagonist, but his knowledge of the aerospace system was really limited. Instead, everyone worked together to come up with ideas.

   A few hours have passed, and O'Keeffe already feels dizzy. This meeting should be considered over, right?

   "Okay, let's put this accident aside, we'll go out and perform at the memorial service, and now let's talk about another thing, everyone, Max claimed to protect the earth, what do you think?"

   "Huh, he imagined himself as Superman, he should wear his underwear outside." O'Keeffe said.

   "O'Keeffe, haven't you NASA considered other possibilities?" The voice became cold: "They said on the surface that they want to protect the earth, but if they have the ability to change the orbit of the asteroid, it is not necessarily to prevent the asteroid from hitting the earth, but maybe to let the asteroid hit on purpose?"

"deliberately?"

   "That's right, is it possible to precisely control the orbit of the asteroid so that it hits our big city?"

  The people in the White House are all elites, so someone will naturally consider this, and just in time to talk about this possibility while O'Keeffe is here.

   "How is this possible? This is clearly a Hollywood blockbuster!" O'Keeffe shook his head.

   At this moment, someone hurried in.

   "Agence France-Presse has just released the latest report, you can watch TV."

   After the man finished speaking, he turned on the TV.

  "Dear audience, the Columbia space shuttle accident was a man-made tragedy. We interviewed a person who knew the inside story and got a lot of precious information. Let's listen to this recording first."

   "The construction of our International Space Station is too slow! We must speed up and use the space shuttle to transport the next Destiny test module up as soon as possible!"

  …

   "No, we can't wait that long...we have to use an excellent launch to prove that we are the strongest in this field!"

  “In order to prove his ability as soon as possible, the head of NASA, regardless of the dissuasion of his subordinates, strongly demanded to launch the space shuttle immediately. We know that space launches must be cautious, and preparations for a launch mission may need to be started several years ago. However, O’Keeffe insisted on going his own way and demanded an immediate launch. This is the main cause of flight accidents.”

   It's over!

  O'Keeffe's face darkened. Who recorded the sound at the meeting?

   Too much, too much!

   "We know that before the launch, Max, the head of the Starship Company, raised doubts, thinking that such a hasty launch mission is very dangerous, especially since the Columbia is an old space shuttle that has been flying for 20 years, but no one listened to it. Later, when a suspicious object in the video was found to have hit, Max made another suggestion, but it was still not adopted. Facts have proved that NASA is no longer the original NASA. They are not only bloated and inefficient, but also headstrong , Disregarding human life, next, let's listen to another conversation."

   "Yes, there may be accidents, but think about it, if an accident does happen, and our astronauts die without warning during the return process, or know the problem, but can't solve the problem, and finally stay in orbit and wait to die?"

  This dialogue is the most lethal. How does NASA deal with the problem after discovering possible problems? Rather let those people die than take active measures to save their lives!

   It is possible, but not certain, so there is no need to make a fuss.

   "No, these recordings are forged!" O'Keeffe said: "The French are slandering us just to promote their ESA. Well, they still have to rely on us to enter space. If they slander us without a bottom line, then we will not carry a European in the future!"

   "Whether it is fake or not is not important anymore, the important thing is what to do next." A cold voice sounded: "O'Keeffe, how do you think this accident should be handled?"

  Starship Corporation.

   "Max, I want to join the Starship Corporation. NASA has no place for me." Wayne Hale said: "Now that something happened to the Columbia, that damned O'Keeffe wants to push me out again."

   "Then what? You leaked the recording of the meeting?" Max asked.

  Hal was taken aback, can he say such things casually?

   "Hal, you are welcome to join us!" Max did not continue, but stretched out his hand: "Let's fight for life to defend the earth and land on Mars!"

  Hal nodded: "That's right, only in the Starship Company can you truly engage in the aerospace industry! However, Max, I hope to keep my whereabouts a secret for the time being."

   "Of course, after all, those people hate you so much now." Max said: "But don't worry, everyone in our starship company has no feeling for that land. We are all coming together for the same goal now, and there will be no such activities in NASA."

   Hal nodded vigorously.

  The Columbia space shuttle accident is a disaster for all mankind. All countries are mourning for the astronauts who died. However, when it was discovered that this was a man-made accident, everyone's attitude changed.

  For a while, accusations against NASA were like snowflakes. Under tremendous pressure, O'Keeffe could only take the blame and resign, becoming the person in charge of NASA with the shortest serving time in history.

  Moreover, the crash of the Columbia this time severely hit the confidence of the United States in spaceflight, allowing the whole world to see the fact that NASA is going downhill.

  Although Max no longer went to the United States, a group of aerospace experts who lost confidence in NASA left NASA and joined the emerging starship company. The future of human spaceflight rests on the starship company!