MTL - Big Time 1958-Chapter 961 Mir space station

France has its own interests in Africa. As an African policeman, France has been relying on Africa as much as possible. Deep down, France also has plans to compete with the United States and the Soviet Union. To exert influence, the ultimate blueprint is the Mediterranean strategy.

  The Mediterranean is very important. The Mediterranean Sea is bounded by the European continent to the north, the African continent to the south, and the Middle East of Asia to the east. The west of the Mediterranean Sea is connected to the Atlantic Ocean through the Strait of Gibraltar, and the northeast is connected to the Black Sea through the Turkish Strait. After the opening of the Suez Canal, the southeastern part of the Mediterranean Sea is connected to the Red Sea through this canal, and goes out to the Indian Ocean through the Red Sea. From Western Europe to the Indian Ocean, the route through the Strait of Gibraltar, the Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea has become the most convenient sea route in the world. According to statistics, the Mediterranean Sea has an extremely important strategic position in economy, politics and military. For a long time, the Mediterranean Sea became a battleground for the great powers. The U.S. Sixth Fleet has always been based in the Mediterranean.

   The entire Mediterranean Sea can be integrated, and the Roman Empire of modern society will be re-established. It has to be said that it may be because there is only one Roman Empire in Europe that has maintained a long-term unified relationship. As a result, any ambitious country refers to the Roman Empire, the United States is called the new Roman Empire, the Soviet Union has the plot of the successor of the Eastern Roman Empire, and even the Germans have made the Holy Roman Empire. If the French idea takes shape , the Roman Empire of the classical era will be re-established.

The biggest opponents of this plan are the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union is friendly to France. One premise is that it is temporary. In fact, the Soviet Union is the most ruthless country to clean up France after the war. Among the French colonies, Southeast Asia, the surrounding area of ​​Syria, and even North Africa and West Africa , were penetrated to varying degrees by the Soviet Union. Even the area around the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, including what is now Libya, was taken into the arms of the Soviet Union, and the ultimate goal was to control the entire North Africa and encircle Western Europe, which was the strategy of the Ottoman Empire.

   So the French idea is nothing to think about, not to mention that the US Sixth Fleet is still in Italy. The United States will also not let the French vision become a reality, nor did France during the Cold War publicly raise such a vision.

   Now the Soviet Union, the United States and France are sitting at the same table, and they have completely different ideas with each other, and their interests and goals are completely inconsistent.

However, even if this incident affects the hearts of the whole world, it will not affect the Soviet Union. The entire Soviet Union is promoting the establishment of computer centers. This is an important step in upgrading the planned economy. Honnov and Second Secretary Ligachev have repeatedly emphasized the importance of this on different occasions.

   As the general secretary, Serov went to the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan to experience the launch process of the Mir space station, accompanied by Kunayev, the first secretary of the Kazakh Party Committee. Originally this year, according to the real history, Kunayev should have been dismissed by Ge Tutu, which caused dissatisfaction among the Kazakhs and led to bloodshed. In the end, the centrifugal force of the Soviet minority was greatly increased, and the problem was that Ge Tutu eventually persuaded. In this local confrontation with the central government, Kazakhs won. Since then, Moscow's authority has been greatly weakened in the eyes of local party committees.

Serov is not going to replace Kunayev, nor is he going to let his valued successor, Nazarbayev, stay in Kazakh. The more serious cadres will be cleaned up, which of course must be done by Kunayev, who is a local snake.

In case the 80-year-old chairman of the Council of Ministers, Tikhonov, really has no energy to continue his work, the general secretary is going to use Nazarbayev to top him, but the premise is that a Russian must be replaced as the first secretary. Before that , Kunayev must learn from Shcherbitsky, who is also a Dnipro gangster, that is, Serov's in-laws, and make Kazakhs a good one.

"Reagan believes that for a period of time, he will not come to bother us. The addition of the French will make things more complicated, and the French have their own pursuits. We just wait." On the way to the Baikonur launch site, Kunayev and Nazarbayev were both present and accompanied the General Secretary to watch the ceremony in person.

   "Moscow said, Reagan is going to meet with the general secretary in Iceland?" Kunayev asked without losing the opportunity. If the two sides can really meet, maybe it will ease the current situation. To calm the relationship between the Soviet Union and the United States.

"It's okay to meet! I just got the news." Shelov said calmly, "but it may not be fruitful!" If they do meet, this may be the first time since the leaders of the two countries took office. See you, but Reagan doesn't even try to get a bargain from him.

If the two sides really meet, they may exchange opinions in addition to the INF Treaty. Given the current situation, Reagan will definitely discuss the Libyan hostage crisis with Shelov. Maybe the hostage crisis itself is the purpose of Reagan's promise to meet Shelov, not the so-called The INF Treaty, which was used perfunctorily by France.

  Who cares, Serov didn’t take the initiative to beg Reagan to meet. In fact, once the INF Treaty is signed, the United States and the Soviet Union really can’t tell who will suffer and who will take advantage. This treaty cannot be evaluated at all. In other words, both the United States and the Soviet Union suffered, and only Western Europe was safe. The French recognized this and united the Federal Republic of Germany to put pressure on the United States.

   Not long, the group arrived at the Baikonur launch site. This is the last launch of the civilian part of the Mir space station. After this launch, the Mir space station will be constructed. The earliest proposed space station complete body is not civilian at all, but a complete combat space station. After this launch, the Soviet Union will start the second phase of the plan.

Before this launch, the Mir space station, which was already in space, was 80 meters long, with a total mass of 140 tons and a working volume of more than 500 cubic meters. It was the largest spacecraft for human exploration of space so far, but it was not enough. . After this launch, the platform will be fully constructed.

   Prior to this, the Soviet Union had launched the second module on the "Mir" - "Quantum One". Quantum 1 represented the first time the Soviet Union used a completely new space station design module, carrying scientific experiments and astrophysical observation equipment. Quantum 1 conducts research on active galaxies, quasars and neutron stars. The module also supports biotechnological experiments in preparation of antiviral agents. It is planned that the module will dock with Salyut 7. After Quantum 1 docked with Mir, the two engines at the rear of the core module were deactivated. Then the Soviet Union launched Quantum II. Its main purpose is to provide the space station with new scientific experimental instruments, better life support systems, and an airtight chamber.

   Last year the Soviet Union launched Crystal, the third module to dock with the core compartment. Like the previous modules, the crystal number is designed based on the basic module. The main function of the crystal number is to obtain structural materials, electronic devices, biological agents and plant cultivation techniques with special properties under the conditions of space flight; to enhance the exploration of earth resources and astrophysical experiments. It increases the space of the space station and brings more favorable conditions for long-term manned flight.

"I will never let you be born untimely. The whole world will see your true face, not the castrated body of Ge Tutu." During the countdown at the Baikonur launch site, the general secretary staring at the giant rocket said to himself. .

On July 25, 1986, the last stage of the Mir space station was launched, and the news of the successful launch quickly spread all over the world. The Mir space station, which had not been completed until the disintegration of the Soviet Union, had all its civilian plans. Finish.

   "The successful construction of the Mir space reflects the basic fact that the Soviet Union is the largest space power in the world. If I am not modest, the current Soviet Union has no rival in space exploration."

  In the evening news broadcast of the Soviet Union, people all over the Soviet Union watched the news broadcast after get off work, and they saw their ever-powerful general secretary on TV. It was absolutely not wrong, although the Soviet Union always criticized other countries for hegemony and imperialism. But in fact, their general secretary is more in line with this in terms of image, and it is still undisguised.

   Wearing a gray military coat, a big-brimmed hat, and an old-fashioned Serov, the way he was holding the script of his speech was completely different from Brezhnev, who had always shown the image of an honest elder. In a speech in the tone of Laozi's number one in the world, "The Soviet Union's strong scientific research strength should have such results. Facts have proved that our country, political system, and scientific organization are unique in the world, and the Soviet Union does not need to be compared with any other country, because We are number one in the world."

"What the capitalist countries can't do, we can do it with ease." The Soviet people who listened to the general secretary's reading of the draft felt that they had heard this rhetoric from somewhere, and many elderly people thought about it carefully. , It seems that this kind of agitation speech always appeared in the Khrushchev era twenty years ago.

   In any case, for the entire Soviet Union, this is a very worthy of celebration. The significance of the Mir space station can also be heard by ordinary people. He can let a person stay in space for a long time. Coupled with the reports of the Communist Youth League Pravda and Soviet TV stations boasting that after the 1960s, the space fever was once again aroused in the Soviet Union.

This is definitely not good news for the United States. Reagan finally does not have to remain silent. Reagan cherished this opportunity very much, and soon announced that he would increase investment in spaceflight. He also retorted very confidently, "What the Soviet Union can do, America can do it too!"