For astronauts, every day's life is repetitive and boring. It is in this repetitive life that they continue to hone their skills and ultimately meet the needs of spaceflight.

But today, there was an episode in their boring lives.

“Have you heard? Starship Company is here to select people!”

“Starship Company’s spaceship is going to fly? Their company’s progress is really fast.”

"Of course, even though their company is newly established, half of them are from NASA, and the remaining half are old men. This team is a global elite. Of course, it is a good idea to engage in research and development. Soon."

 “Then who did they choose?”

 "Zhao Dong, Pan Chun, Deng Ming... six people in total."

At this time, the six selected people were sitting in the conference room. They sat upright and looked at the person who was holding the meeting for them, very excited.

"Everyone, welcome to join the Starship Company. From now on, you will not only be astronauts on the Shenzhou spacecraft, but also astronauts on our Dragon spacecraft. I can guarantee that it will take up the least amount of your time." Max said: "I believe in Oriental Training Aerospace You are fully capable of flying as pilots. You just need to adapt to our Dragon spacecraft. Our spacecraft is very powerful and the training time required is very short. I believe you can quickly adapt to our spacecraft. Now, I roughly Let me introduce our Dragon spacecraft."

A picture of the Dragon spacecraft appeared on the slide, and Max introduced: "We have seven seats on the spacecraft, three in the front and four in the back. Every time we go to space, there will be three astronauts. We have six astronauts. We will alternate tasks in the future.”

“What about the four seats in the back?” Mr. Qi asked.

 The astronauts had always been listeners and would not ask questions, but Mr. Qi was very curious.

Our own Shenzhou spacecraft only has three seats and can only carry three astronauts at a time. The Dragon spacecraft is different. It can carry seven astronauts at a time. So why not take all six people on board?

“The four seats in the back are passengers. We have to make sure we make money in the sky. All the four seats in the back have been sold,” Max said.

 Passengers have not received any training, and their physical fitness is incomparable to that of astronauts. If all passengers can get on board, the requirements for astronauts will certainly not be high.

“Our spacecraft is divided into two parts. The front manned module is the main living and working place. When returning, this manned module will also be returned. The non-pressurized module section at the back will be recovered after launch..."

When the Shenzhou spacecraft was launched, it was a behemoth of several hundred tons. When it came back, it was just a bell-shaped return capsule. It belonged to the older generation of aerospace technology. Most of the spacecraft of the Starship Company had to come back. Max was very stingy and reluctant to part with it. These things are consumed directly.

 Lao Qi could only sigh.

Listening to Max's introduction, the eyes of the six astronauts gradually lit up. It was obvious that this kind of spacecraft was easy to fly, far more than our own Shenzhou. However, they didn't know how safe this kind of spacecraft was.

As long as you can go to space, safety matters. Spaceflight is inherently dangerous work. Who can guarantee safety?

 “Do you have any questions?” After the introduction, Max said to everyone.

"No problem." Zhao Dong spoke on behalf of everyone: "We will definitely train hard and strive to board the spacecraft as soon as possible to realize the dream of flying."

“It seems that you are developing your own space suits. What kind of space suits do they use when they fly on the Dragon spacecraft?” Mr. Qi started to ask.

“Yes, we are developing it independently, but the progress seems not to be fast. Can we use the spacesuit provided by the aerospace system?” Max asked.

The space suit developed by Starship Company must be eye-catching as its first priority, but the progress of research and development is not very fast, and I don’t know if it can catch up.

 “Of course.” Mr. Qi nodded.

"Next, let's talk about the cost issue." Qin Tao said: "These astronauts are still part of our country's establishment. We are leasing them. We will provide these astronauts with an additional fund as living allowance. At the same time, We will also provide a fee to our astronaut center as a rental fee."

"Mr. Qin, we don't need living allowances." Zhao Dong spoke again: "Whether it's the Shenzhou or the Dragon spacecraft, it's our glory. We have already received a salary from the state. We don't need to do anything special. We need to get more." A salary."

Qin Tao looked at Mr. Qi and saw Mr. Qi nodding there. At the level of astronauts, leaders will help solve all kinds of life problems. They really have no material pursuits.

“In this case, our Mingzhou Group will fund and send you to Damao for training.” Qin Tao said.

Mr. Qi nodded: "This is possible. We have sent several astronauts to Da Mao for training, but it was too expensive. We can only send some people there to pass on their experience. None of the six of them have been to Da Mao. You know It would be great if the state group sends them to train.”

The astronaut project has been negotiated in this way, and now comes the most important thing.

“Mr. Qi, during the test flight of the next Shenzhou spacecraft, can we conduct a docking experiment with our Dragon spacecraft?” Qin Tao raised this key question.

"This docking experiment is going to disrupt the progress of our spacecraft. After receiving Zhao Ling's request, our system was divided into two groups. Some people think it is possible to dock and adapt in advance, while others think it will interfere with our experiment. , delaying the launch of our first manned spacecraft."

 “What do you mean?” Qin Tao asked.

"President Qin, you are making things difficult for me." Mr. Qi said: "When I accepted the mission to develop the Shenzhou spacecraft, I was already 59 years old. Now, I will soon be 70 years old. At my age, I often I can’t afford to bother anymore.”

"If you don't bother now, then you will have to let your successors bother." Max said: "In the manned space program, space docking is a very important item. In your three-step strategy, you must establish a long-term manned The space station is absolutely impossible without docking capabilities. It is better to take advantage of this opportunity to conquer this technology. As for the delay in progress that you are worried about, it does not exist. You only need to install a docking interface and we will control the whole process. That’s it.”

"What if you come over and crash our experimental spacecraft?" Qi Lao said: "The verification of the return and other projects we want to carry out will not be carried out. Shouldn't this delay our progress?"

Sure enough, he was afraid of this. Qin Tao was still thinking about how to let Mr. Qi put down his worries. Max continued: "Mr. Qi, this is easy. Let's buy an insurance for this space docking. If it crashes, the insurance The company can compensate you for the cost of two launch missions, and you can carry out two more launches. Is this okay?"

 “Okay.” Mr. Qi nodded.

“Mr. Qin, what do you think?”

 “Of course I have no objection.”

“Okay, then this task will be underwritten by our insurance company under the Mingzhou Group.”

 “What? My insurance company?”

“Yes, the good news does not go to outsiders. Of course, this kind of task needs our insurance company to take over.” Max said.

Of course, this is not the reason. The key point is that other insurance companies are unwilling to accept it, thinking that the probability of starship failure is too high. Only the insurance company of Mingzhou Group will provide insurance. Anyway, the loss will be yours. They must be supported.

Qin Tao suddenly realized that he seemed to have been deceived by Max, but now that the words had been spoken, he could not object. After all, he had to support the development of Starship Company, even if it meant losing a sum of money.

Since the start of the package project, Mingzhou Group's business has become more and more comprehensive, and it has also gotten involved in financial services. After all, it has to provide loans and the like, and by the way, there is also insurance business. Nie Shiyu is responsible for these, and Qin Tao rarely She was too distracted to take care of it, so this time she could only make a phone call to get her to agree to this business that seemed easy to lose money.

It was already midnight when he came out of the red house. Qin Tao was in a hurry and came to the hospital again. The ward was very quiet. Qin Xue was lying next to Zhao Ling and had fallen asleep sweetly. Zhao Ling was looking at the door and saw Qin Tao's At that time, a smile appeared on his face.

She knew that no matter how busy Qin Tao was, he would come back to see her.

 “Is it done?”

"Um."

 “There are still some things that you need to deal with tomorrow.”

 “You just gave birth to a child and you are still working?” Qin Tao was helpless.

“I’m bored lying down all day, so I just do something I can do.” Zhao Ling said: “The classification society sent an invitation. If you have time tomorrow, you can go to their meeting.”

“Classification society? Okay.” Qin Tao nodded.

At this moment, there was movement from the child nearby. Zhao Ling quickly reached out to pat the child, and the child fell asleep again.

Zhao Ling smiled: "What about you? Where will you sleep?"

“Next to my daughter, of course.” Qin Tao lay on the bed on the other side.

Soon, Qin Tao fell into a deep sleep. Listening to Qin Tao's snoring, his daughter actually slept soundly.

 …

Classification societies can also be called surveying associations or surveying institutions. Their main business is to conduct technical inspections of new ships and issue certificates to qualified ones. At the same time, due to the needs of the inspection business, they must also formulate corresponding technical specifications and standards.

Nowadays, it is impossible for ships without classification society standards to be taken over by shipowners. This is already a required certificate. Even if most classification societies are private organizations, they also have this authority. The most famous classification society Of course it's still foreign.

Hundreds of years ago, in the United Kingdom, during the Age of Discovery, they vigorously developed the shipbuilding industry. The cafes on the banks of the Thames in London became a gathering place for people engaged in the ship business. Among them, the most prosperous one was Edward Lloyd, whose cafe He was not just a coffee drinker. Many ship and cargo insurances were handled in his cafe, and class insurance needed to know the condition of the ship, so he established the Lloyd's Register of Shipping in 1760 and began to implement ship inspections and Register for class.

 After that, many countries had their own classification societies.

 There is also the Eastern Classification Society, referred to as CCS, in the East. This classification society is under the jurisdiction of the state. If you want to talk about history, it can be traced back to the Ship Registration Bureau established on August 1, 1956. By 1986, the classification society and the ship inspection bureau were separated from this organization, and the classification society began to enter the domestic and foreign markets as a corporate body. . By 1998, Oriental Classification Society had become the only national ship inspection agency in China that handles ship classification business and the main force in ship inspection.

Although most of the ships produced by the Mingzhou Group meet the standards of Lloyd's Register, they must also be inspected by the Oriental Classification Society. Therefore, I heard that this classification society is going to hold a meeting, and Qin Tao is still free. Of course you have to come and participate.

Of course, Oriental Classification Society did not dare to hinder Mingzhou Group. After all, Mingzhou Group is the leader in the domestic shipbuilding industry. They have a mutually beneficial relationship. Seeing Qin Tao's arrival, the person in charge of the classification society Li Ke hurriedly greeted him.

“Mr. Qin, we are really flattered that you can come to our meeting.”

“President Li, please stop looking up to me. I’ll join in the fun.”

 “Come, sit over here.”

 “No need, how can I sit on the podium?”

“Mr. Qin, you are our backbone, and you must preside over the next meeting.”

 “What on earth do you think?”

"Mr. Qin, you should also know that up to now, the class and statutory ship certificates issued by our Oriental Classification Society cannot be passed unimpeded all over the world. For ships sailing on the ocean, if you want to apply for insurance business, You still need to certify certificates from Western classification societies such as Lloyd’s Register of Shipping,” Li Ke said.

"What?" Qin Tao was surprised: "You haven't integrated into international maritime technology activities yet?"

"We tried hard several times, but were rejected." Li Ke looked helpless: "They are probably afraid that we have the world's number one shipbuilding group, and are afraid that once we can participate in the formulation and implementation of international norms, what will happen to us?" Bad for them.”

Just like a civil aviation aircraft needs an airworthiness certificate to fly, a ship sailing on the sea also needs a certificate certified by a classification society. Because other countries do not recognize the certificate certified by the Oriental Classification Society, cargo ships sailing on the ocean need Continuing to certify other certificates is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also obviously a form of discrimination.

"This is indeed a problem." Qin Tao frowned: "So?"

"Now, the canal in Siam is about to be excavated. In this process, Mingzhou Group has made great contributions. Your relationship with Siam is also very friendly. Can you discuss with them if you want to pass the canal? Is it necessary to have a certificate issued by our Oriental Classification Society?”

It is not just an issue of insurance. Ports and canals in various countries require relevant certificates. Oriental Classification Society has also made efforts in many aspects. For example, the Suez Canal allowed Oriental ships to be transported in 1988. Ships certified by class societies passed through the Suez Canal.

As for the canal in Siam, it has just been opened. If only ships from the Oriental Classification Society are allowed to pass, those who want to pass must come to Oriental to apply for a certificate!

"Then what?"

“Then other classification societies will definitely be dissatisfied. At this time, we can make requests for mutual certification of certificates.” Li Ke said.

This is the main purpose of inviting Qin Tao here. They want Oriental Classification Society to join the circle of international classification societies. This is very important and has a great relationship. Qin Tao should support it, but he thought about it. After a while, he still shook his head helplessly.

 “What’s the matter, Mr. Qin?” Li Ke asked very uneasily.

"Everyone, after the opening of the canal in Siam, they definitely want all ships to pass through them. You request that only ships from our Oriental Shipping Classification Society be allowed to pass. Is this possible?" Qin Tao said, "Even if I and I We have good relations with Siam, so we cannot make such demands on them.”

Aren’t people blocking their own business by doing this? No matter how good our relationship is, we can't make such excessive demands.

Hearing Qin Tao's words, everyone's faces darkened.

 That’s right, Mr. Qin is right. We only considered our own interests, but did not think about the interests of Siam. Such an approach is obviously impossible to be accepted by Siam. This is wishful thinking. Although Mr. Qin has great influence, he cannot ask Siam to do such a thing of destroying the Great Wall.

"However, if we propose to the Kingdom of Siam to reduce the navigation fees for our Oriental Classification Society ships, for example, a 50% discount, it shouldn't be difficult." Qin Tao thought for a while and said: "In this way, it should be It can also attract a large number of international cargo ships to obtain certification from our Eastern Classification Society.”

Li Ke and the others had a good idea: only ships from the Oriental Shipping Classification Society could be allowed to pass, so that international cargo ships would have to apply for certification from the Oriental Shipping Classification Society. However, this idea was not realistic, so Qin Tao could only modify it to reduce the passage. It is still possible to pay a fee, which can still attract these ships to be certified and improve the certification authority of Oriental Classification Society.

“We can’t force them to authenticate each other’s certificates with us.” Li Ke felt helpless.

“The next step is to improve the value of our certificates.” Qin Tao said: “For example, we can develop LNG carriers with higher standards. In this way, LNG carriers that can pass this certification will be the most advanced in the world.”

If you want others to recognize this kind of certificate, you still have to rely on your true skills. Orient has an absolute advantage in the field of natural gas ships. They can improve the value of the Orient Classification Society certificate by improving the certification standards of natural gas ships.

 This is just like a grade certificate. Obtaining a CET-6 certificate is definitely more capable than a CET-4 certificate. The level 6 certificate has obviously higher value and is more valued by employers.

Moreover, among LNG ships, Dongfang is originally the boss, and its status is unmatched. Vessels certified by Dongfang can easily be recognized by other ports around the world. This is the right way.

The setting of standards by classification societies is very complicated: if the standards are set low, shipyards will definitely be happy because they can easily meet such standards, but shipowners will be unhappy. What if something happens to a ship with too low quality? The standards are set high, and shipowners are happy because the quality is very high, but shipyards have a headache: what should they do if the standards are not met?

Therefore, the standards set by classification societies are the best way to ensure the interests of ship owners and shipyards after years of adjustment. It is difficult to change these standards.

 Then it can only be changed from some special ships, such as natural gas ships!

Anyway, the natural gas carriers produced by Oriental are of the highest quality. We will continue to improve the quality standards so that others will look up to us, ship owners will be happy, and ports in various countries will accept them. In this way, the value of Oriental Classification Society’s certificates will naturally increase. .

“As well as large bulk carriers, we can raise the standards and let the world see that the bulk carriers we manufacture have the highest performance.” Qin Tao continued.

Many European shipyards dare not build bulk carriers. After experiencing several shipwrecks, Eastern has almost taken over all the orders for bulk carriers in the world. Now, Eastern Classification Society can further improve its standards and let the world see it. Oriental high quality and high standards.

“Well, Mr. Qin, the method you mentioned is feasible, as long as the shipyard has no objections. By the way, we can listen to the opinions of Mingzhou Group experts as to how far the specific standards should be raised.”

 Generally, the shipyard listens to the classification society, but here, the classification society listens to the shipyard. This is unique, but it is logical. Who makes Mingzhou Group so awesome?

“You can go to Mingzhou Group and exchange with them the core data of our shipyard’s ships.” Qin Tao said: “It’s time to let them know the strength of our Dongfang Industry.”

"Okay, Mr. Qin, we'll go right away." Li Ke was very excited.

"Mr. Qin, if the standards are raised, does it mean that the old ships will be eliminated?" Another person said hesitantly.

At present, there are still a large number of old bulk carriers in the country, which are transporting various goods around the world. If the standards are improved, will these bulk carriers still have a future?

"How is it possible? Our classification society certification is mainly for new ships. When the value of our Oriental Classification Society increases and is recognized by various ports and insurance companies, who will see whether the certification obtained by cargo ships is in the past or now? Yes, as long as it is certified by the Oriental Classification Society, then it will be fine." Qin Tao said.

Of course, old bulk carriers cannot be scrapped, otherwise it will cause huge waste, and domestic shipowners will be forced to withdraw a large number of bulk carriers from international ocean shipping. How can this be done? The interests of shipowners in the motherland must be safeguarded.

“Of course, we also encourage them to trade in old cargo ships for new ones.” Qin Tao said: “We at Mingzhou Group are willing to help them replace old cargo ships with new ones at a discount higher than the market price.”

 Old cargo ships have low operating efficiency after all. If they can be replaced with new ones, the new ones are better.

"It is of great significance to allow the class and statutory ship certificates issued by our Oriental Classification Society to be used unimpeded in countries around the world. We thank Mr. Qin for his contribution to our Oriental Classification Society." Li Ke held Qin Tao's hand , said with great gratitude.

“We are also honored to help our classification society expand its influence, which is also a contribution to world shipping.” Qin Tao said: “We want to show the power of our Eastern manufacturing to the world, and now is just the beginning. "