Doomsday America.

Chapter 258 Preparations for a Narrow Escape

"One week later!"

Gavin was stunned for a moment upon hearing Ivan's words.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, he quickly composed himself and his expression brightened with anticipation and joy. "That's wonderful! Ivan, Charlie, and Kobayashi, everyone! I can't wait to have a drink with you all!" Gavin greeted the astronauts excitedly, but after the brief greeting, he couldn't suppress his worry and asked the astronauts in the sky a question.

"However, guys, besides welcoming you back and wishing you all a safe journey, I'd like to know what exactly prompted you to make the decision to return in a week."

At this point, Gavin's eyes inevitably revealed a hint of worry.

He then continued to ask the astronauts:

"We've talked about time before, guys. You told me you had enough supplies for three to four months, right?" "I'm not very scientific, guys, but I'm worried that there might be some unforeseen circumstances forcing you to return earlier than planned." As he finished speaking, Gavin listened quietly to the signals from the space station.

On the space station, the six astronauts exchanged knowing glances after Gavin finished speaking.

Their eyes looked tired and anxious.

After exchanging glances, Big Ivan slowly exhaled and then smiled wryly at the men around him.

"Heh heh, Gavin's a perceptive person; he seems to have sensed something."

As soon as Big Ivan finished speaking, Charlie Duke chuckled and nodded, saying something.

"Of course he would notice, because manually piloting the return capsule to attempt a return from the space station without ground signals and data support is no less daunting than throwing yourself into a black hole you know absolutely nothing about!"

"What we're doing now is tantamount to premature suicide, isn't it?"

At this point, Charlie Duke rubbed his head vigorously.

He had a slight headache.

He continued speaking while anxiously rubbing his scalp and looking frustrated.

"Our calculations are all based on our own brains and are completely unsupported by comprehensive data."

"If the return capsule encounters strong winds or weak thunderstorms during its return, or if the landing search and rescue is too slow, then we are doomed."

"To be precise, the problems mentioned above are all things that might only arise after the return capsule has returned to Earth's orbit." "And the first difficulty we face, which is also the thing that's giving me the biggest headache, is that damn... attitude separation!" At this point, Ivan took a deep breath in exasperation, and then tried to give his crew a resolute look.

What he referred to as attitude separation was actually the instant he flung the return capsule from its fixed point toward Earth from the space station! Keep in mind that every second the space station orbits the Earth, it travels a full 7.6 kilometers!

That's right, in just one second, the difference is 7.6 kilometers!

At such terrifying speeds, all Big Ivan had to do was launch the return capsule like a slingshot, throwing himself violently off the space station, this ultra-high-speed rotating machine!

That's right, it's that simple and brutal: just throw it out!

But what problems exist here?

That's data loss caused by a communication disconnection!

Although every astronaut on the space station is a genius among humans, and the parabolic data they calculate is basically without problems.

Theoretically, they have calculated a perfect parabola leading to the center of Lake Livingston over the past month or so.

Theoretically speaking, all they need to do now is follow the parabolic trajectory and pilot the return capsule away from the space station at the appropriate time.

While this thing is theoretically so simple, in practice, there are huge problems!

Because the calculations performed by astronauts simply cannot be done in real time and dynamically!

In other words, what the astronauts are calculating is a static... unchanging, static parabola! This line lies around the space station, essentially a fixed point that doesn't move. If a spacecraft misses this fixed point during its undocking process, then... they'll be in danger!

That said, many people may not yet understand the difficulty of this matter.

Let's put it another way.

Because the astronauts' calculations lack ground-based data support, the data they obtain is only static, and the conclusions they draw are also static. However, while conclusions are static and mathematics is constant, humans are dynamic and full of surprises!

It's important to understand that the space station operates at speeds exceeding 7.6 kilometers per second. This means that if Ivan manually controlled the return capsule to detach, there was a one-tenth-second deviation from their calculated timing...

That means their decoupling point would deviate from the correct point in their calculations by at least 760 meters! And this is just the deviation at the moment of decoupling. Keep in mind that after they decouple from the space station, they are completely unable to make correct trajectory adjustments based on ground telemetry data!

In other words, if the timing of Ivan's operation to detach the return capsule deviates from the calculated result by even one-tenth of a second, then based on the initial distance deviation of more than 700 meters, even if they can still return normally, the deviation from the originally expected landing point will be at least 30 kilometers! This is because they did not descend vertically back to Earth.

They ricocheted back to Earth in a huge arc!

The good thing is that the return capsule at least has some operability, while the Ivan the Great can at least be manually operated to adjust its trajectory.

But that's just nonsense. Without ground data support and communication channels, once Ivan controlled the plane to break away, he couldn't find where they were at all!

Therefore, the so-called operability of the Ivan is all concentrated on the landing operation, that is, the Ivan can rely on experience to control the return capsule to land smoothly as much as possible!

But where they will ultimately land... is actually a completely uncertain question.

After receiving static data support from Eugene, Sean, and others, all Big Ivan and his team could do was calculate at least two intersecting arcs that would ensure the return capsule crashed into Lake Livingston based on different points on the east and west sides of the lake and the overall size of the lake.

These are two intersecting arcs, one connecting the west side of Lake Livingston and the other connecting the east side of Lake Livingston. Between these two intersecting lines at different points, a tiny, purely mathematical tolerance was left for Ivan.

If Big Ivan can stay within these two lines, the spacecraft can deorbit at a precise time and adjust its attitude according to normal speed.

Then they have a certain chance of securing their landing location.

But if this margin of error is converted into time, how much error could Tsar Blake actually make?

It was about 0.3 seconds!

Mathematically speaking, if Ivan's timing for controlling the reentry capsule to detach was off by 0.3 seconds, they would have no chance of crashing near Livingston Lake!

If they encounter other minor problems during the attitude adjustment and separation process on their return journey, even if they successfully return, they will likely not be able to land within the Texas area...

Therefore, the pressure on astronauts is unimaginable.

Charlie Duke continued his earlier banter, laughing as he spoke.

"Our chances of survival are really slim. You all know I don't like to swear. I come from a wealthy and well-educated family. But, Mazefakr, even if we're going to die, we should die because of our own choices, shouldn't we? I don't want to die in a cold space station!"

"That's right!"

Charlie Duke's words earned Kobayashi Shinya's absolute support, who raised his hands and shouted.

"We must return to Earth, even if it means dying here. Panzai, Gyokusai!!!"

"That's right, die on Earth!"

"Even if I have to die, I want to die on Earth!"

At this point, the space station was in an uproar; the atmosphere was almost unnervingly good.

The astronauts, who were initially depressed, found their spirits lifted and were motivated to work again after contemplating suicide.

And Big Ivan.

Hearing his men's supportive words, he nodded heavily and then pressed the radio call button.

Meanwhile, on the ground, after Gavin asked that question, he was surprised to find that the space station had been quiet for more than half a minute. This silence made Gavin extremely anxious.

Fortunately, half a minute later, Ivan's voice finally came through the intercom.

All I heard was Big Ivan speaking in a solemn tone.

"Don't worry about me, my friends on the ground. What prompted us to return was not some special accident."

"We're just homesick!!!"

This statement greatly encouraged Gavin, because he recognized the tone in Ivan's voice.

Big Ivan seems to be even more motivated!

And the word "homesickness"...

This word made Gavin sigh deeply, and then he spoke to Ivan.

"Your home is right here, my friends. Your family is waiting for your return, and they'll have beer and drinks ready, soup and stew, and of course, a BBQ that everyone is destined to love!"

"But my friends, is there anything else we can do for you on your way home?"

At this point, Jia Wen instinctively took out paper and pen, ready to take notes.

On the space station, Ivan didn't stand on ceremony. After Gavin asked him, he immediately reported all his needs.

"Of course, Gavin, we still need your help in many ways, but those are mostly concentrated on the day we return!" "First, I need to confirm our return time with you. We've set it for 1:25:42 PM seven days from now. That's New York time, so please make sure you take note of the time zone."

"In addition, in our last call before we return, we need as much astronomical data as possible from the ground, including the surrounding area, including Lake Livingston."

"Our communication will remain intact until we return, and we can use the arc that will send us back to Texas. The space station will also be located closer to Texas, so that's when our communication will take place."

"I want to make sure that there is no extreme weather during the time period we return, and that it is not just data from one point, but data from at least three points within a 50-kilometer radius of Livingston Lake, that is, multi-faceted data from the surrounding edge area of ​​Livingston Lake."

"OK, Ivan, no problem!"

Gavin responded to Ivan in a very loud tone.

"I have at least three pilots, guys. I'll send out all the planes, each equipped with a radio to keep you in touch!"

"That's wonderful, my friends. You've done more than enough to create such conditions for us in this apocalypse!" Big Ivan said to Gavin with a smile after receiving his reply.

"Therefore, at 1:25:43 PM seven days from now, we will leave this sky and return to the Earth we depend on for survival!"

"We eagerly await your stew and wine when we return, my friend!"

"As for now, we still have other work to do, including reducing the weight of the return capsule to accommodate a full six more astronauts than originally planned, and also inspecting multiple return capsules on the space station to prevent equipment malfunctions!"

"So, we have to get busy, and so do you."

See you on the ground!

"OK, see you on the ground!"

Gavin quickly responded to Ivan's words.

After receiving Gavin's response, the astronauts on the space station fell silent for a moment before erupting into a short cheer.

Big Ivan then raised his hand and addressed each astronaut.

"Alright, guys, the ground is ready for us, so we need to do our job, especially by watching the Gavin Cowboys' games on our VHS tapes multiple times, so we can remember what our future leader, the leader of Texas, really looks like!"

"Ha ha,"

"That's right!"

"I'm fucking excited!"

"go home·……"

"marvelous!"

Amid cheers, Big Ivan smiled and pressed his hand down.

After the cheers of the men subsided, he continued speaking with a smile.

"As for our other tasks, although they are not as important as remembering Gavin's appearance, we still need to get them done as soon as possible!" "Charlie, you and your American buddies immediately inspect my goose-made return capsule and eliminate any potential hazards to the aircraft."

"Because I'm the operator for this return flight, I chose to use the aircraft I'm most familiar with to increase my operational proficiency and improve our survival rate by at least one percentage point!"

"The others cooperated with Charlie and his colleague in the maintenance work, removing excess weight and creating more space as much as possible without affecting the performance of the return capsule."

"The weight we need to remove is at least equal to the combined weight of the four of you, because our goose's return capsule wasn't originally designed with extra space for all four of you!"

"We don't have much time left, only seven days. The moment seven days from now will be our best window of opportunity to return!"

I saw Odin waving at us, and I saw the goddess of justice watching over us!

"And the last thing we need to do is fill the drink pouches in our clothes with hard liquor. Once we successfully return, we must drink this knock-out liquor before opening the spacecraft to maximize our chances of not being completely infected by the zombie fungus!" "So, haha, you should thank me, because I was the only one who violated the rules by bringing in two fucking cases of whiskey, hahahahaha!"