"And once all our satellites are in orbit, they'll form the Eye of God global navigation satellite network, with horizontal and vertical positioning accuracy reaching 10 centimeters and 20 centimeters respectively."
"…"
"It also supports short-message communication services, which means emergency rescue requests can still be sent even when there's no mobile signal."
"So whether it's the satellites or the launch vehicle itself, today's mission has truly historic significance."
After speaking for a full half hour, Nicholas finally wrapped up with a passionate conclusion.
For him, everything he had worked for over such a long period had led to this day. And now that success was finally within reach, no one here was more excited than he was.
"Very good. From your vivid description alone, I can already see the sweat and effort that all of you have poured into this."
"So here, I only want to say one thing. Every one of you is exceptional, fully worthy of the title of Pioneer elite."
"But believe me, everything you've done today will be worth it. In future honors, in headlines around the world, and on the company's project medals, every single one of your names will be there."
"And of course, your bonuses won't be shorted by even a cent."
"Now I announce that the Eye of God Launch Project officially begins!"
After rising from his seat, Killian first acknowledged Nicholas's hard work, then looked at every researcher present with a deep and steady gaze as he spoke each word with absolute certainty.
The moment his words fell, the room erupted in thunderous applause.
Then, under Nicholas's lead, everyone began the final round of launch preparations.
"Boss, the satellite launch vehicle is fully ready. All parameters are normal, and we're ready for ignition at any time."
At that moment, after everything had been prepared, Nicholas turned to Killian and reported directly.
"Begin."
With that single word from Killian, the mission entered its final phase.
"Launch countdown: three minutes. All departments begin final self-check and report status."
"Security department in position!"
"Fire response department in position!"
"…"
"Medical team in position!"
As each department in the launch control center completed its final check, the countdown steadily approached the end.
"One minute remaining."
"Ten seconds remaining."
"Nine."
"Eight."
"Seven."
"…"
"One. Ignition."
As the countdown reached zero, a blinding burst of fire erupted from the bottom of the rocket. It slowly lifted off the ground, then rapidly accelerated upward. Thick white smoke billowed in every direction, making the launch site look as if a line of bombs had detonated across the ground.
Then, in broad daylight, the rocket shot into the sky like an arrow, disappearing into the clouds and eventually from human sight entirely.
The moment it vanished from view, the launch center erupted in cheers. People threw their arms around one another in excitement.
Even little Skye, who was standing close to Killian, couldn't help but clutch his sleeve, her pale little face flushed with excitement.
But Nicholas, standing rigidly beside Killian with his jaw clenched tight, did not relax in the slightest.
Because right now, all this meant was that the launch itself had succeeded. Whether the vehicle would reach low Earth orbit and safely complete separation was the real key.
As time passed, the giant wall of screens at the front of the control hall began displaying images from the cameras mounted on the rocket.
The footage showed the vehicle entering first-stage separation, while the second-stage engine continued firing.
Behind it, the camera feed showed only darkness.
The moment Nicholas saw that, he immediately understood that the rocket was now nearly horizontal, with only a slight tilt left.
That also meant it was nearing its planned orbital path, which meant second-stage engine separation was coming soon.
And once that happened, the third-stage engine would ignite for the final acceleration burn.
At this point, even Skye's breathing had grown rapid.
She had studied rocket launches before, not deeply, but enough to understand that this was one of the crucial hurdles where many other launches had failed.
Now it was the same timeline, the same moment, the same kind of challenge.
The only question was whether Pioneer Tech would get a different result.
Everyone inside the launch center was staring at the screens with clenched fists, sweat gathering in their palms.
In reality, only a little over two minutes had passed since launch.
But the rocket's acceleration didn't give them any time to calm down. As its speed increased again, Nicholas reached the moment he had been dreading most.
"Come on. It has to work."
People began murmuring encouragement under their breath.
The personnel handling flight data no longer had time to care about anything else. They were fully focused on recording every real-time number coming back from the launch vehicle.
"Payload fairing separation."
The moment the electronic voice announced it, the screen showed the nose section splitting down the middle and peeling away to both sides, revealing the satellites enclosed inside.
"Radar tracking normal. Telemetry signal normal."
"Optical radar normal. Signal reception normal."
"…"
"USB interface normal. Signal reception normal."
Once the fairing separated, the control center staff quickly began reporting every system status in turn.
The rocket continued onward.
Soon after, the next critical phase arrived, second-stage engine shutdown and separation.
After continuing its trajectory for a while longer, the vehicle reached the planned velocity and altitude.
"Second-stage engine shutdown and separation."
As the electronic voice sounded again, the second-stage engine shut down and detached.
At that point, the rocket's acceleration had dropped to zero, and its body was now almost perfectly level with Earth.
Carried by inertia under the pull of gravity, it continued moving until it matched the orbital path, at which point the third-stage engine ignited to deliver the final acceleration.
At that moment, even little Skye looked visibly tense. Her eyes were fixed on the display.
Everyone in the launch control center was doing the same.
"Third-stage engine shutdown. Payload separation."
As the voice made the final call, the engine flame vanished, and the satellites were deployed one after another into their designated orbital positions.
Over the next hour, every satellite entered its assigned orbit.
At that point, the rocket's primary launch mission was complete.
But one final step remained.
Rocket recovery.
And this part had already passed beyond what the researchers themselves could do by hand.
Once the launch mission ended, the nuclear-powered launch vehicle, which had been drifting silently after engine cutoff, came back to life under Baymax's remote control.
Its engines ignited again, and under Baymax's control, it began using its four grid fins to adjust attitude and velocity, lining itself up for its descent trajectory back to Earth.
Then the vehicle officially reignited and accelerated, beginning its rapid return to the planet.
Before reentering the atmosphere, it performed the first braking burn, reducing its relative speed to Earth and changing its descent path toward the launch base.
After dropping below the next altitude threshold and passing the Kármán line, Baymax directed three short additional braking burns, using auxiliary engines to further slow it down.
Once the vehicle reached around thirty thousand meters, its hollow wings deployed and the auxiliary engines started, allowing the nuclear-powered launch vehicle to glide toward the base under remote guidance.
As the rocket body rapidly closed in on the ground, Baymax continued micro-adjusting its thrust parameters in the control center, correcting its position so it could land exactly on target.
And then, as the altitude reached the predefined level, the automatic ignition system activated again.
The previously silent engines roared back to life, and the reverse thrust forced the falling rocket to a near stop.
The vehicle began descending slowly through the air.
The moment the control center saw that, everyone's nerves tightened again, because this was the last and most critical moment.
Five hundred meters.
Three hundred meters.
One hundred meters.
As the rocket body drew so close it almost seemed within reach, Baymax was still performing minute positional corrections.
"Recovery frame deployed!"
"Positioning error: zero!"
"Beginning final landing!"
As Baymax's mechanical electronic voice echoed through the launch center, the first-stage rocket body descended with extraordinary precision.
Boom!
With one final burst of braking flame, the nuclear-powered launch vehicle touched down vertically on the launch pad runway.
And once everything stabilized, confirming there was no tilt or abnormal deviation, Baymax shut down the engines completely.
At that point, the first-stage body had successfully returned intact to its designated landing area.
The ground recovery teams that had already been standing by immediately rushed forward in vehicles and began a full inspection and data collection operation.
"Yeah!!"
The moment everyone saw this, the entire hall exploded into celebration.
Wave after wave of applause thundered through the room.
Success.
They had really done it.
"Success! We did it! We really did it!"
At that moment, even Nicholas's eyes had gone red.
He grabbed the nearest researcher in a bear hug and nearly lifted them off the ground, shouting out his excitement.
Seeing that, Killian, while not feeling the same level of emotional intensity they did, was still genuinely happy for them.
After all, this was the result of countless nights and endless effort.
The launch center had turned into an ocean of joy. Researchers were laughing, jumping, hugging total strangers.
…
At the same time, under the watch of satellites belonging to various nations, every government and power on Earth clearly witnessed Pioneer Tech's successful satellite launch and the complete recovery of the rocket.
"What an incredible company."
"These technologies are truly terrifying."
At that moment, after seeing the footage through satellite observation, one national leader could not help but say so with genuine admiration.
Because as the leader of a nation, he understood better than anyone just how much money a state had to sink into rocket launches.
Up to now, their rockets were single-use. And single-use meant that every satellite launch came with enormous financial loss.
A rocket could cost tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars, and most of its structure and systems were discarded after only one flight.
Those discarded remnants not only created debris problems on Earth and in orbit, but also severely limited launch frequency and flexibility.
Every single launch meant rebuilding and reassembling an entirely new rocket, consuming huge amounts of time and labor.
And if a launch failed or suffered an accident, repairs were often impossible. A second build had to begin from scratch.
So the fact that Pioneer Tech had successfully developed recoverable rockets was enough to move any nation or company.
That was why, from the perspective of a national leader, he couldn't help but feel genuine admiration.
What he regretted most was that such a cutting-edge company had not been born in his country.
But nearby, his aerospace policy adviser, a man more focused on practical interests, frowned deeply.
Because for launch firms like theirs, Pioneer Tech's success in reusable rocket recovery was not good news at all.
That was the essential difference between the viewpoint of a national leader and that of a businessman.
And similar reactions were playing out across the world.
Because Pioneer Tech had not hidden this launch at all.
Although they had not held a special press conference, both the external media feeds outside the launch site and the official company livestream from the base were public.
Which meant that anyone in the world could watch the launch through Pioneer Tech's website.
The only thing they couldn't see was live video of the operators inside the control room.
But for most viewers, that didn't matter in the slightest.
At the same time, on Pioneer Tech's official livestream, the audience began flooding the feed with congratulations as soon as they saw the successful launch and recovery footage.
"Australia sends its congratulations!"
"This is insane! I never thought rocket recovery, which was still basically in the theoretical stage, would actually be pulled off by Pioneer Tech. This is absolutely wild!"
"It worked!! I'm officially declaring that getting hired by Pioneer Tech is now my life goal!"
"Congratulations, congratulations!"
"This is amazing. It really feels like the opening stage of a real spacefaring era now."
"No wonder they're called the light of human technology. Keep going, Pioneer Tech. I hope you contribute even more to Earth's exploration of space in the future!"
"This is too strong. In one year, they've gone from medical robots to controllable fusion, cancer treatment serum, and now reusable rockets. I seriously think Pioneer Tech's next step is going to be off-world exploration."
…
As the online discussion surged, some fans even began sending gifts voluntarily.
In just a few minutes, Pioneer Tech had already received gifts totaling over a million dollars.
At this rate, a large portion of a launch vehicle's cost could probably be earned back in less than half a day.
"Thank you all for your support. On behalf of Pioneer Tech, I sincerely thank all of you for your continued support and companionship."
"But please, there's no need to keep sending gifts. Life isn't easy for anyone."
"However, under our chairman's direct instructions, all gifts sent during this stream will be donated in double value to children's welfare homes to support the community. Thank you, everyone."
At that moment, Lisa, who was personally supervising the livestream, finally stepped forward to speak as she saw how wildly viewers were sending gifts.
…
And while Pioneer Tech's livestream exploded, the media was not about to lag behind.
One headline after another about Pioneer Tech's rocket launch began flooding the news.
(End of Chapter)
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